The Midnight Two: Ghost of the Past (V2)
by Sapphireloid
Summary: A year after The Liberators' defeat, Lilly and Karma return to the ninja team, only to get caught in yet another conflict. What will happen when one of their teammates is possessed by a wrathful spirit, set on becoming the Green Ninja? Does the team have a ghost of a chance to save their teammate? Only time will tell in the second installment of The Midnight Two!
1. Chapter 1

It's been a year since The Liberators have been defeated, a year since Lilly and I split from the team so we could go do our own thing, like everyone else had. Since then, I've gotten much more used to my powers, turned eighteen, and even learned how to summon my dragon! My dragon's pretty cool looking, I must say. I never knew a dragon could look so awesome in fuchsia and purple. So far, everything's been pretty good since the split, though, despite being a contact on Lilly's cellphone, Lloyd never answers any calls or texts. We tried to call him once to see if we could tell him and Sensei Garmadon about my progress so far. Maybe his cell phone broke? I'll never know.

Lilly's year on the other hand has been filled with a lot of sleeping. You see, I thought she'd always be the early rising person, but she literally sleeps until noon! Even to 4 pm sometimes! Instead of Tomato, I should probably call her Sloth.

Overall, our year has been pretty good. Today, though, today was special. Today was the day Lilly said we were gonna go back. Today was the day I'd see all my other friends again.

"That waitress was pretty cool," Lilly chatted as we flew above the city on our dragons. We just had lunch at Chen's Noodlehouse. I'll have to remind myself to go home at some point, bow and say to my parents "Forgive me for I have sinned. I ate at the comptetion's restaurant."

Though, one good thing came out of going there. I got to see Lilly become a tomato again. She had a crush on our waitress, a girl with eyes the color of malachite and bright red hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her skin was a dark tan and she looked to be Lilly's age. I wanted to laugh every time Lilly stuttered and blushed when talking to her.

"By cool you mean you totally had the hots for her," I giggled. Lilly's face started to turn red.

"I do not. You can't fall in love with a stranger you just met!" Lilly argued, her face the color of a tomato. God, she's a hypocrite. She says not to fall in love with a stranger you just met when she just did that a few minutes ago. Logic, am I right?

"Um, you just did that a few minutes ago, idiot," I said, wanting to laugh.

"Shut up..." I heard the blonde mumble. I decided to not go farther with my teasings, that way I wouldn't tick her off too much. We were going to see the Ninja again today, so I didn't want to ruin her good mood.

"So, when are we gonna go see the Ninja today?" I asked, excited.

"We're heading there now, but remember we need to stop by Xavier's shop afterwards, so we can find out how exactly you are using the Dark Arts without a spellbook," Lilly informed me. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It's been a while since I've seen Xavier too, anyway.

"I also think Cole's birthday is coming up here soon," Lilly said, scratching her head. Oh joy, his birthday is coming up. Watch him annihilate the cake. I got a random thought just then.

"Hey, I don't know if I've ever asked, but when's your birthday?" I asked Lilly. I've never really found it out. I mean, she knows mine, but I've never known hers.

"I was born on August 29th, but I've never really celebrated it," Lilly said. So, her birthday already happened two months ago!? Why didn't I know before!? I could have gotten her a cake and everything! (Though, I'd think Cole would be able to smell the cake from miles away and he'd run all the way here to devour it.)

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Lilly call "I think we're here!"

My heart beat fast. I was going to see my friends again.

Come to find out, they moved to a higher mountain and started a tea shop business called Steep Wisdom. I can already tell it was named by Sensei Wu. How, you ask? It has a lame ass name. Only he'd name it something like that. Can't he come up with something like "Shop of PosibiliTEA" or "InfiniTEA"!?

We took the directions given to us to Steep Wisdom. It wasn't a long ride, but a boring one at the most. Not as boring as the tea shop's name though. Once we got there, the place looked empty on the outside.

"You sure that old lady wasn't playing a prank on us?" I asked Lilly as we walked up to the door of the place. I heard voices behind the door once we reached it.

"Well, here's your answer," Lilly said, opening the door. Two boys and girl stood at the counter, chatting with whoever was behind it. The two boys looked oddly familiar.

"Hey, so I heard you put extra things in your customers' bags here. It's candy, isn't it? How about you give us a little bit of that something?" one of the boys asked. His hair was a light brown. I recognized him as the boy I saw in the village last year who gave the other boy his seal of approval.

"If it's cake I call it. I'm not sharing either," the girl declared. Is she Cole part 2?

"Hey, does he...Hey! I'll fight you for the candy!" I heard the seal-of-approval boy yell. Who is he yelling at exactly?

"Why would you fight him?" the starlight-kick boy asked.

"The real question is, how much will you pay me to fight him?" the seal of approval boy asked the other.

"Okay, all three of you need to get out if you're not buying anything. And Lloyd, go put that stuff away," I recognized the voice immediately. That's Misako's voice! They really are here!

"Fine, I'll go get cake elsewhere," the cake girl said, turning and walking out of the shop, paying no mind to us. The two boys followed her, but the starlight kick boy accidentally tripped over my foot.

"Oops, sorry kid," he said before walking out. Did...did he just call me what I think he called me!? Oh, I'll show him what a REAL starlight kick is!

"Karma. Don't," Lilly said as I wound up a kick, aimed straight for the guy's back. I huffed and followed her to the counter. When Misako turned away from the shelf behind the counter, she immediately recognized us.

"Seiko! Lillian!" she said, smiling, "it's been a while."

"It indeed has. How have you all been?" Lilly said, not caring that she said both our actual first names.

Misako sighed, she sounded really upset. "Not very good, but we're healing," she said. Wait, what's wrong?

"Misako? What's wrong? What happened?" I asked, not meaning to pry, but at the same time I kinda did.

Misako wiped a small tear from her eye. "Garmadon died a few months ago."

It was then I realized why Lloyd hadn't talked to us all year, especially when we mentioned Sensei Garmadon. Lloyd was still sore from the loss of his father, someone he looked up to a lot. I can relate to how he feels. After all, I had dealt with the same thing last year, except it was my sister who had died. It's gotta be even harder on him, considering his actual age. Poor guy.

"But, in other news, we all are alright. We're pretty happy Zane's back," Misako smiled. Zane...that's their dead robot friend, right? Someone must have rebuilt him.

"Oh, is everyone here perhaps? I'd love to talk to everyone again, especially Zane," Lilly asked.

Misako nodded. "Let me go get them," she said, walking out of the room. I felt excitement building up inside me again. I'm going to see them again! I'm going to see Zane as well. I wonder what he's like.

Zane was the first one to walk into the room and, he looks different from what I remembered on TV. His skin was metallic and shiny. His hair was the color of chrome and was metallic as well. His eyes didn't glow a bright blue, but more of a lighter and neon blue instead.

"Lilly, is that you?" he asked, his voice monotonous at first, "And, who is this child?"

Oh my god! Is everyone going to refer to me as a child!? Even a goddamn robot!? I'm not that short! Geez!

"Yupp, and she's not a kid. That's Karma, the master of darkness," Lilly said. Well, at least someone here knows I'm not a kid.

"Oh, I apologize," Zane said. Okay, he's much more expressionless than I remember from TV. Zane then stared at me for a moment. Well, he's quite odd, too.

"You are...Clouse Zheng's niece?" Zane observed. Um, how would he know that?

"Uh, yeah. How do you know that?" I asked, bewildered.

"My scanners told me," Zane explained, tapping the side of his head. Well, I guess that's something you'd expect a robot to have. Though, Zane was giving a look of suspicion, mixed with surprise. I really want to ask him why he asked if I'm related to Uncle Clouse.

Just then, the others ran in. Well, everyone except Lloyd at least. It was good to see everyone again, and I was overjoyed when I saw that Jay and Cole were getting along even better than ever. Nya had gotten much taller. The only people who had not changed in the past year were Kai and Sensei Wu. Well, I think Sensei's beard has gotten longer...I can't tell. I don't even want to know anyway. Kai had told me before that Sensei Wu hides snakes and his leftover tea in his beard. Gross.

While Lilly was greeting everyone, Cole walked over by me with a look like he was debating something in his head.

"What's up, Cole?" I asked him, hoping I could help him with whatever he was debating.

"Nothing much, just..." his voice trailed off.

"Just what?" I asked, hoping to not sound too nosy.

"I...I'm wondering if I should tell Lilly something or not," he said, rubbing his chin.

"Tell her what?" I asked. This sounded a little suspicious.

Cole kneeled down and spoke in a whisper, "Now, I don't know if her and Kai are in a relationship or not (it sure seems like it though), but Kai was with another woman while you both were gone."

Despite knowing they probably weren't, since really a kiss doesn't suddenly make two people in a relationship, I still felt pissed. Did he just throw away her feelings!?

"Did he just act like her feelings were nothing!?" I whispered furiously to Cole. He shook his head.

"I doubt it. Kai's a huge jerk, but he's not that much of a jerk. I suppose he may have thought they would never see each other again or something, or he has a huge memory issue...or he really is that ignorant," Cole whispered. I saw Cole pull his phone out of his pocket and show me a picture of Kai and a red haired girl at some restaurant. The girl looked oddly familiar for some reason.

"They broke up two months ago though. She wanted to focus more on her family's business. Though, I have no idea what they saw in each other. I mean, he had JUST met her when they got together," Cole said.

"What's her family's business?" I asked.

"Chen's Noodlehouse. Speaking of which, we have a lot to tell you guys about the original owner," Cole answered. I nearly died laughing right there. The girl Kai was with was the waitress with malachite-colored eyes that Lilly had a crush on. If I remember right, I think her name tag said "Skylor", but I couldn't tell. The o and a looked similar. Or maybe it was an e...

I'll never know. It could probably be a u.

"I don't know if I should tell Lilly though. I mean, I've already ruined one relationship. I don't want to ruin another," Cole sighed, looking at the floor. No! Cole it's not your fault!

"Just tell her at a later time. I already ticked her off once today. I'm afraid if she gets ticked off from this she'll probably rip off someone's arm," I advised him, patting his shoulder.

Cole smiled a little bit. "Okay, thanks for the advice," he said. I nodded. Hey, when a friend needs help, I won't hesitate to help them.

"By the way, do you know where Lloyd is?" I asked Cole.

"I thought I saw him sitting near the rock garden outside," he informed me. I thanked him and took the back way out of Steep Wisdom.

To be honest, the rock garden wasn't much of a garden. It was more of a pond with huge rocks rising above the water. I looked around for Lloyd, but I stopped when I heard a few sniffs. I turned to see Lloyd sitting on one of the rocks, staring into the water. I saw him wipe his eyes many times. I slowly approached him.

"Lloyd? Are you okay?" I asked him quietly. He looked startled for a moment, but he wiped his eyes and looked over at me.

"Karma?" he said.

"Yupp. I'm back, and so is Blondie," I smiled. I saw a slight smile grow on Lloyd's face. At the same time though, I noticed one of his eyes was a bright red, while the other was still the beautiful emerald color he usually had.

"Um, Lloyd...your eye..." I said, not knowing whether to be scared, worried, or curious.

"Hmm? Oh, one of my eyes must be red again. I'm surprised you never noticed," Lloyd said. Before!?

"You had it before!?" I asked. He nodded.

"My eyes change colors from time to time. They only change to green or red. Most of the time both of my eyes are green though. My mom says I have this because of the magic my dad had with him around the time I was born," Lloyd explained, "Though, how does dad pass on the magic he had in him to the stork that delivered me?"

Oh dear lord, Lloyd has no idea where children come from. You'd think that now he's 13 or 14 someone would have told him. Though, I think if someone told him now, it'd be awkward for everyone.

"Anyways, I noticed you were crying earlier. Are you okay?" I asked him, concerned. He looked a little surprised, then ashamed.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I know that was pretty wimpy of me," Lloyd said, as if it was a bad thing.

"What are you talking about!? That wasn't wimpy at all, Lloyd! If it is, then everyone on Earth is wimpy, because everyone on Earth has cried at least two times. Regardless, you're a strong person, Lloyd," I said, a little mad about what he say. Who the hell told him crying was wimpy!?

"I just...I can't take it. Everyone's depending on me to save Ninjago without fail, everyone's expecting me to act grown up despite my age, I'm being hunted for my powers, I've been kidnapped many times, I watched my father die, and I feel like most people are just using me like an object instead of a human being!" Lloyd sobbed, "Why can't I just get a break!? Why can't I just live a normal life!?"

I felt sorry for him. Really sorry. He's been through so much, I wonder how he was able to hold in all these emotions for so long. Though The Liberators weren't hunting him down, I remember Lilly and the Ninja telling me what had happened before, all the way to before Lloyd had even become an adult. The whole deal with the Great Devourer, The Overlord, everything. I felt ashamed for even thinking my problems were far worse than his.

I wrapped my arms around him, giving him a hug. "To me, and the Ninja, you're no object. You're a special person, who brightens our lives. Victory or fail, Green Ninja or not, we all will still love you for you, Lloyd. Everything will get better, trust me," I said in a gentle voice. Lloyd said nothing after that, but I hoped what I had said made him feel better. I can't stand to think I had left a friend upset.

Everything I had said was true though, too. We all love Lloyd. I could care less if he's the Green Ninja or not, he's my best friend, not some weapon. Though I've never seen anyone really use him like an object, I felt like it had something to do with The Overlord.

I knew that better times were coming for Lloyd, and the road would get smoother for him, but I was wrong. I was very wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Since the Ninja had to go help local fishermen with a huge fish problem, Lilly and I decided to go into the city and see Xavier. On the way there, Lilly told me everything that had happened while we were gone, from a tournament of elemental masters to dealing with some guy named Ronin. I was surprised to hear that my uncle was an assistant to the man running it, Chen. Evidently, Uncle Clouse also died there. I didn't know how to react to it. It was pretty sad, but at the same, my uncle was doing really bad things and I didn't really know him that well. Well, make that two members of my family that have died now. It's almost as if there's a death curse on my family now, especially since Luo and Uncle Clouse's passings weren't that far apart in time. It now makes me wonder who's next.

After landing a block away, we walked to Xavier's shop. When we walked in, we saw Xavier having lunch with a man who had skin the color of chocolate. He had curly, light orange hair. His eyes were orange like Xavier's, but a darker shade of it.

"Ah, Lilly, Karma, you've returned!" Xavier smiled.

"Is that Yami?" I heard Lilly ask, pointing at the orange-haired man.

"Yes, it's me. I've changed quite a lot, haven't I?" the man stood up, smiling. His voice was similar to Lloyd's.

"Yeah. A good change," Lilly said, giving a thumbs up. I saw Yami spot me and he walked over.

"Is this your friend, Lilly?" he asked. I saw Lilly nod. Yami held out his hand.

"I'm Yamikani Tajik, and you are?" he greeted. I took his hand and shook it.

"Karma Lee, it's nice to meet you," I smiled.

"So, how's your boyfriend?" Yami asked me. My cheeks grew warm.

"Um, I don't have one," I said, ignoring the blush growing on my cheeks.

"You don't? But Xavier told me you had one! Huh, he must have been speaking about the future again," Yami said, surprised.

"Uh, yeah," I said. Why would Xavier say something like that? How could Xavier be saying something like that for the future though? I don't have feelings for anyone right now, nor do I even know anyone enough to have that.

"So, you want to find out how you gained the powers of the Dark Arts?" Xavier asked me as Lilly and I sat at a table. I nodded.

"We'll pay you if we have to," Lilly said reaching into her pocket. Xavier immediately put his hands up.

"No need! This one's free!" he said. Lilly pulled her hand away from her pocket.

"This won't take very long, but if you two get bored, feel free to talk to Yami. Alright?" Xavier said. We both nodded and he closed his eyes. It was pretty silent then, then I saw Yami give a distressed look.

"Something the matter?" I asked him.

"Just...something's not right about the air. I'm sensing feelings of wrath and hatred I've never seen before," Yami explained.

"Are you an elemental master?" I asked him. He chuckled a little bit.

"I wish, but I'm not," Yami said, "I'm a psychic."

"Are you sure these thoughts aren't from an angry businessman or some criminal?" Lilly asked.

"I told you I've never sensed these before. These feelings are over forty years old. I've sensed these thoughts for seven months, but now they're at an extreme level. Something is not right," Yami replied, sounding worried. What Yami said sounded ominous. These feelings he sensed were around for seven months, and coincidentally, the Tournament of Elements ordeal happened seven months ago. Perhaps its a snake person being bitter over their loss? Or is a big enemy from then back?

I saw Xavier open his eyes then.

"Well, from what I could see, when you were three your uncle started teaching you it while your parents' backs were turned. He didn't teach you all of it, but he taught you a few moves that you use without noticing sometimes. It looks like they can be used when you focus your power," he explained. I don't remember that. I don't remember it at all. Then again, I don't remember anything past my sixth birthday. What makes me wonder is, how can I do it without realizing though? Isn't there some spell I have to chant or something?

"Well, is there anything else you'd like to find out?" Xavier asked us. Well, I guess I do have one thing...

"Who do I get married to!?" I asked immediately.

"That I can't tell you," Xavier laughed.

"Why not!?" I asked. What's so wrong about asking who you're going to be with for the rest of your life!?

"It'd ruin the surprise," Xavier smiled, "Literally, the only thing I can tell you about the future is that Yami and I get married. Though, I guess I could tell you what day you get married, but I bet you would deem it us-"

"Tell me it please," I said immediately. Xavier paused for a moment.

"July 28th," he informed me, smiling.

"Okay Karma, let's get you out of here before you spoil any more of your future," Lilly said, getting up. I followed her out of the shop, waving goodbye to Xavier and Yami. Huh, who knew they were a couple. I thought for sure Yami was Xavier's brother or something because of the eyes, but I think they're cute together. Though, I do wonder one thing. What were they talking about when they said Yami had changed quite a lot?

As we mounted our dragons, a strong, cold wind blew through the streets, chilling me to the bone. It felt like a winter breeze instead of a fall breeze.

"Geez, winter must be fast approaching," Lilly observed as we flew off. I knew it was just a winter breeze, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was associated with the feelings that Yami sensed earlier. I know, it's an odd feeling, but something as unusual as that breeze has to be associated with those feelings. I decided to ignore it. Maybe I am being odd and I'm suspecting the wrong thing. I don't know.

When we got back to Steep Wisdom, the Ninja still weren't back. Evidently, they went out into the city to advertise Steep Wisdom, and Lloyd went to the museum. One question, how could any of the city people get here!? I'm sure a few people in the city don't even know what a mountain is!

"They should be back soon. Shouldn't be long, since it is getting a bit dark," Nya said as she looked out the window.

"Isn't a bit early for it to be getting dark outside?" I heard Lilly say, joining Nya at the window. I watched Misako assist their first customers, a mother and her young daughter.

"I added a little something extra," Misako said as she gave the bag to the mother. I really wondered what Misako put in there, because saying something like that could give people the wrong idea, like you put drugs in their tea or something. Or that's just me.

Just then, the Ninja ran into the shop with panicked expressions. I noticed Lloyd wasn't with them. Maybe he's still at the museum.

"Sensei! We need to talk to Sensei!" Jay yelled, looking the most frightened out of all of them.

"Boys, quiet down. Can't you see we have our first customers here?" Misako said, ignoring their panicked expressions.

"Woah! It's the Ninja!" the little girl marveled as she walked up to Jay, "Hey, can you shock me?" Why would she ask something like that? Being electrocuted is painful!

Jay gently pushed the girl aside. "Okay, okay, but where's Sensei Wu?" he asked. Just then, Sensei Wu walked out of the back of the shop, a bag of tea in hand.

"Sensei! We were getting the word out," "And then there was this wind!" "And then our powers were gone!" all four of the Ninja spoke at once. I froze when I heard them speak of the wind. Was it the same wind that Lilly and I had felt earlier!? If so, why aren't our powers gone?

"You were using your powers!?" Sensei Wu said, sounding a little peeved.

"Yeah, I know, we're terrible students! But what happened to our powers!?" Jay asked, sounding even more panicked.

"If your powers are gone, then something must have happened to Lloyd," Sensei Wu said, his eyes widening. Immediately then, I internally panicked. What could have happened to Lloyd!? All he did was go to the museum! Maybe there was a sniper there, or something, and they took Lloyd! The poor guy, just today he was talking to me about how he's constantly kidnapped, and it might have possibly happened to him again today.

"Um, hey, Lloyd's walking up right now, and he's wearing something funny," Lilly said, staring out the window. A wave of relief rushed through me. So he is okay! Thank goodness! Now, that makes me wonder, what happened to the Ninja's powers then?

Lilly and I followed the Ninja outside to see a slightly angry looking Lloyd.

"That's not Lloyd," I heard Sensei say. Well, if it's not Lloyd, then who else could it be!? There's no in Ninjago that looks like him, except for his father, but his father is dead!

"Step aside," I heard the possibly-fake Lloyd say. Oh my god, the voice. Obviously, Lloyd never had (and probably never will) have a voice like this guy's, so I guess it can't be Lloyd. Would it be awkward to say I really love this person's voice though? I mean, just, hot damn.

"Lloyd! What's your deal!?" I heard Jay yell over the raging winds.

"I want a word with your master," Lloyd said, his new voice threatening.

"Woah, Lloyd's gone through puberty," I heard Jay say. How could he be going through puberty now if he had an aging potion thing four years ago!? I suppose it could start happening now if puberty starts off mentally, then physically.

"What's gotten into him!?" Cole asked, frightened.

"I sense some kind of foreign entity has taken over his body, so the question is what, or who has gotten into his body?" Zane informed us all. Someone has taken over Lloyd? But how? Hypnosis like this doesn't exist!

Then, Kai started yelling something about wanting Lloyd back. Lloyd was silent, then he cracked his neck and laughed. I was frightened now. It seemed like something you'd see in some kind of horror movie, except now it was real.

"How are we supposed to fight a friend!?" Cole panicked. Lloyd smiled.

"Let me show you!" he yelled. His hair and the whites of his eyes became black. His skin was a ghostly green, and his eyes were now a color similar to the one you see in green glow sticks. I was utterly frightened now. What is this person doing to Lloyd!?

Lloyd sent a huge gust of wind at us all, making us fly into the air and land on the hard ground. I had the wind knocked out of me on impact. No pun intended.

We all quickly got up and ran at him. One by one we were all knocked away by him. I got kicked in the stomach, which made me feel a bit sick. He started walking towards us, but he didn't notice Lilly running at him from behind, or so I thought. Before she could land a hit on him, he grabbed her arm and flipped her, making her land on her back with a thud. Still holding her arm, he took her hand, the scarred one, and bent it a way I've never seen a hand bend before. I heard a snap and the sound of what would sound like a cell phone screen breaking. Lilly's eyes widened, then she let out a scream of pain. Lloyd dropped her arm, smirking. Lilly curled into a ball, cradling her arm. I, then, realized what had happened. Lloyd broke her hand, which also broke the elemental forge crystal inside her hand which was the source of her powers. Lloyd destroyed her power source.

I saw Cole and Jay try spinjitsu, but Lloyd just used wind and blew them all into a wall. Then, I saw Zane pull out his shurikens. Lloyd laughed.

"Shurikens? Cute. Try this on for size!" he yelled as the blew the propeller part of the windmill nearby at us. It hit us and we fell to the ground. My cheek throbbed from a gash I got from a piece of the windmill. I reached up and focused, making the surrounding area grow dark. I quickly got up and ran to Lloyd. I don't want to hurt him, but I have to.

"You really think darkness can stop me!? I've been in darkness for years!" I heard a voice yell behind me. I turned just in time to see Lloyd send a strong gust of wind at me. It blew me to the wall. My head hit the wall, then smacked onto the hard ground. I blacked out from the impact. The last thing I remember hearing is Lloyd laughing, his deep voice menacing.


	3. Chapter 3

I opened my eyes slightly, getting a glimpse at trees and nighttime sky above me. _Where am I? What happened?_ I blinked, slightly sleepy, despite possibly being asleep for a while. Then, all my memories came back in a rush. Lloyd isn't Lloyd anymore. The shard that gave Lilly her powers is broken, along with her hand. I recall hearing Sensei Wu saying "I know that wind." I also recall Cole getting his back hurt badly. I was knocked out. The thing that stuck out the most though? We don't know who's controlling Lloyd, and we don't know if he's in pain or dying.

I sat up immediately in reaction to all these memories, but I quickly regretted it when my head started to throb.

"Easy there, Karma. You hit your head pretty hard, and I don't want your injury to get worse," I heard Nya say. I saw her walk up to me and kneel next to me. I looked around past her. Everyone was sleeping. Lilly's hand was bandaged and no longer bent in a disturbing way. Cole looked to be fine, but I doubted his back was fine after hitting a wall really hard. Everyone else looked okay though, except for a few bruises.

"What...what happened? Is Lloyd still bad?" I asked Nya.

"No. Actually, he's being possessed by one of Sensei's old students, Morro. Evidently he's ghost from the Cursed Realm and the master of wind, hence why Lloyd transformed and could use wind," Nya explain. I was silent for a moment, then lost it. I laughed. A ghost!? Oh my god Nya, they're not real. You really think you can just lie to me like that and say some 'ghost' possessed Lloyd?

"Please tell me this is some practical joke," I continued to laugh, "Ghosts aren't real, Nya."

Nya sighed. "I'm not joking around. I saw it myself. I guess you won't believe me until you see it yourself, too," she said, getting up. I couldn't tell if she was being serious, or that she has extremely good acting skills. Ghosts can't be real. There's no way they can exist. All these 'apparitions' and other 'ghostly' occurances have been explained with science. Lights flicker because of bad electricity. A house makes bumps and thumps because it's settling. An apparition is a figment of your imagination. It all has been explained.

Nya walked back over to me with a flashlight and shined it on my forehead and cheek. She removed a bandage from my cheek and replaced it with a clean one. She did the same for my forehead.

"I have a feeling that gash on your cheek is going to leave a scar," she observed.

"It probably will," I said, feeling sleepy again. My head would not stop throbbing though. I grumbled.

"Something wrong?" Nya asked.

"Just a horrid headache," I said, rubbing my head.

"Ah. I guess you do have a concussion then," I heard her say. I looked at her, confused. Concussion?

"What?" I asked.

"You hit your head hard enough to get a concussion. You may have lost some brain tissue. You're probably going to experience headaches, nausea, and maybe some dizziness. Just be careful, alright?" Nya informed me. Geez, she knows a lot about this.

"How come you know so much about this?" I asked her.

"Kai's gotten a concussion before. It was when we were younger. The idiot thought he could climb one of the tallest trees in Ignacia, but ended up falling off and hitting his head on one of the rocks below it. I listened to all the things the doctor said and I've remembered what that doctor said since," Nya explained. Well, the part where he thought he could climb one of the tallest trees sure does sound like him. I may have only known him for a couple months, but I know he always likes to be the greatest. Not all the time, but most of the time. I've even been told he was pretty much obsessed with wanting to be the Green Ninja. I was told he's even still bitter about it now, despite treating Lloyd like his brother now.

"So, is everything alright between you, Cole, and Jay now?" I asked Nya. She sighed.

"I guess everything's okay. They settled it at Chen's Island. I know Cole isn't really interested in me anymore, but I wonder if Jay's the same way..." she said. "Ugh...that's the last time I let a machine decide who I love." Why did you even let a machine decide in the first place!?

"Well, don't think negative on it. Maybe Jay still has feelings for you. It sure seems like it," I said.

"Well, I don't know if he actually does have feelings for me or he's just trying to be friendly," Nya said, drawing something in the dirt.

"Again, think positively. Everything will be better for you if you think positively. It works," I smiled. I saw Nya smile back.

"Besides, you need to tell me how a relationship works, because I have no idea how one does," I said.

Nya giggled a bit. "I think Zane and Pixal are the two robots you want to ask on that one," she said. I was confused then. Pixal? Who's Pixal?

"Um, who is Pixal?" I asked. Nya was silent for a moment.

"Oops, I forgot you didn't know about Pixal," Nya said, "Pixal is pretty much Zane's girlfriend, but she lives in his head."

"So, she's one of those imaginary or fictional girlfriends?" I asked.

Nya laughed. "Nope. She used to have a physical body, but it got scrapped. They both live in the same body happily now."

That'd be a weird thing to experience. Living in the same body as the person you love? I don't think I'd be able to do it. It'd be awkward, especially when you have to go to the bathroom, bathe, and all that stuff. It'd be way too awkward.

I, then, noticed the sun was coming up. The light of early dawn peeked through the trees, shining a teensy bit of light on my sleeping friends. I saw Sensei get up and stretch. He seemed to be the only one free of injuries and bruises.

"Misako should be here soon, probably with food. Just rest for now, okay? Tell me if you need anything," Nya smiled as she walked away. I nodded and lied back down, my headache fading. My worry for Lloyd increased as I tried to rest. He could be dying right now, and we'd have no idea. Whoever this Morro person is could be torturing him. He could even be dead right now! I was scared and worried for him. I don't want to lose a best friend. I don't think I'd be able to live through it. Luo's death took enough of a toll on my heart, and so did word of Sensei Garmadon's death, I don't need anymore deaths in my life right now. I can't bear it.

I don't care who I have to face. Whether it be Morro or Death himself, I'll do anything to get my best friend back. Even if it means dying.


	4. Chapter 4

I wasn't able to fall asleep. The throbbing pain of my headache kept me up, but I wasn't going to be able to sleep that long anyway. Everyone was starting to wake up, and Misako had finally joined us. I saw Nya bring over a bowl of noodles. The smell of them made my stomach growl. Well, trying to fall asleep was definitely out of the question now.

I sat up and started to eat my bowl of noodles, enjoying every slurp. I noticed that Jay and Zane were up as well, and Cole was just now waking up. I watched him get up and stretch. I was just about to warn him about where he was stepping, but it was too late. He stepped on Lilly's bandaged hand. Her eyes shot open.

"GAH! SON OF A-" she yelled, immediately pulling her hand back and cradling it.

"Oops, sorry. I didn't see it," Cole apologized. Lilly glared at him.

"Just remind me to kick you in the junk later," she grumbled audibly.

"Don't you think that's a bit much for an accident!?" Cole said.

"I think I forgot to mention she's been grumpy in the mornings lately," I said, "It's alright, Cole. She won't do it."

"I hope you're right..." he said, stepping away from her.

"It seems she does not have what Jay calls 'chill'," Zane commented in his monotonous voice. Jay snickered. Lilly grumbled and started to eat her noodles.

It wasn't long before I heard Kai talking. I thought he was finally awake, but he was actually talking in his sleep.

"Someone should give Kai an award for sleeping longer than Lilly," I said.

"The only reason I'm awake is caterpillars-for-eyebrows over here likes to step on people's hands," Lilly said.

"Hey! My eyebrows aren't caterpillars! They're actually very flawless thank you very much!" Cole argued.

"Just...meeting at docks...big boat..." I heard Kai mumble in his sleep. I giggled a little bit. I don't know what it is, but hearing people talk in their sleep is really funny to me.

"If you think that's funny, you should hear him other times," Jay said.

"Heh, remember 'Grunkle Banana'?" Cole chuckled a little bit. Jay broke into laughter, snorting in the middle of it.

"Oh my god, that was the greatest," he said, still laughing. Zane and Lilly joined in on the laughter while I was left clueless. What the hell is a "Grunkle Banana"?

"'Grunkle Banana'?" I asked. My friends' laughter ceased.

"I don't know how to explain it to you, Karma," Jay said, "It was more of a 'you had to be there to get the joke' kind of thing."

It was then that we heard Kai yelling "No!...Nooo!" in his sleep. Gee, did it turn into a nightmare? The yak standing next to him licked his face as he slept.

"I think he and that yak would make a great couple," Lilly laughed.

I saw Kai open his eyes and look at the yak. He looked at the yak admiringly, before his eyes widened and he got up, wiping yak slobber off his face.

"Aw, come on Kai. That yak was just giving you a morning kiss," Lilly continued to laugh.

"I bet you wish you were that yak," Kai said, smiling. Lilly's face immediately turned red as my friends and I broke into laughter.

"I don't even need to wish I'm that yak..." I heard Lilly mumble quietly.

Kai went to pick up his breakfast, only to discover that it was being eaten by the very yak that was licking his face.

"As far as I knew, that tomb was a fable," I heard Misako talking to Wu. I couldn't really listen though. I was starting to feel a sudden wave of nausea. Ugh, why'd I have to get this feeling after eating one of my favorite foods!? It's totally ruining my focus on what everyone's talking about right now! I tried to listen as best I could, despite feeling like I could vomit at any moment now.

"You hear that, Kai!? We get to fly!" Jay exclaimed excitedly. What are they talking about? Great, my nausea distracted me enough to the point to where I have no idea what they're talking about now. My nausea started to get worse then. I actually thought I felt something gross at the back of my throat.

"...the scroll of Airjitsu is held in the Library of Domu," I heard Sensei Wu say, missing the first half of what he said. Wait, what's a Airjitsu!? Is it some kind of spinjitsu?

"Please excuse me if I speak out of turn, but records show it was recently stolen," Zane informed everyone. I felt something rise in my throat. Oh crap.

I ran behind a tree and puked, feeling gross afterwards. Well, there goes a perfectly good noodle breakfast. Of course my stomach had to ruin it. I slowly returned to the log I had been sitting on before, my nausea gone. I was completely lost on what everyone was talking about now.

"...which gives us a head start!" I heard Cole say cheerily. Head start on what? Could anyone please update me on what happened or what they're talking about!?

"Then it's set, the Ninja will head to Stiix and the three of us will head back to the tea shop," Sensei said, "and that reminds me, I need to give Lilly and Karma their deepstone suits."

Deepstone!? What's that? I'm completely lost. And why isn't Nya accompanying us to Stiix!? Wait...Stiix!? Oh my gosh, will I get to see Myung!? I felt excited then, but then I was reminded of what was going on. No, I need to save my best friend first. Seeing Myung can come second right now.

I changed into my deepstone suit, actually liking the look of it. Adding my scarf to it made it look even better. It was quite an improvement and better than my old ninja gi. I noticed that while most of the suit was back, my color was magenta, like how Jay's color is blue and Zane's is white. I guess I could technically be deemed as the magenta ninja now. Though pink or shades of it doesn't really strike fear into anyone, I could make it strike fear into others if I just tried.

When I returned from out behind the trees, I noticed the Ninja were getting on yaks. I assumed this was going to be our transportation for Stiix. Why can't we just summon our dragons? I questioned in my thoughts. Then, I remembered. The Ninja lost their powers because Lloyd's in danger, and the elemental shard in Lilly's hand was broken, along with her hand. I'm the only one here who can summon a dragon.

I walked over to a yak, suddenly realizing then how big these cow-like furbags are. It was taller than me! This is an outrage! I swear to god, if I'm the only one who's going to have difficulty getting on this stinky fluff cow I'm going to scream!

I looked around, hoping to see someone else have a struggle, but no, I was the only one. Seriously!? What the heck!? I'm only 5ft (or 4'9, I don't remember)! Everyone else should be having an issue with these yaks!

I jumped up onto the fluffy beast's back, slightly hanging off of it for a moment. I straightened myself and sat upright, making sure my bo staff didn't fall out of my belt in the process of getting on this disgusting-smelling, hairy ox.

"Okay, now how do I steer this stupid thing!?" I asked.

"That's what I'm asking!" I heard Kai respond. Well that sure helps. I looked over at my friends, who were getting a move on now. I noticed they were using the yak's horns to steer, and it basically walked in that direction. Aha! I guess this is where the phrase "take the bull by the horns" applies! Right!?...right?

I steered my yak to the right, but it didn't move. God, could this stinky shag carpet move!? I kicked it with the back of my heel out of frustration.

Immediately, with a loud " ** _BaroooOOOOOO_**!" the yak moved forward at a faster pace. Now we're getting somewhere!

Lilly caught me up on everything I missed while we headed to Stiix. Evidently, this 'scroll of Airjitzu' is something Morro, the guy using Lloyd, wants. It's some form of martial art similar to spinjitsu, except you get to fly. Unfortunately, it was stolen by some guy named Ronin, who the Ninja had fallen into conflict with before not too long ago. Now, what I'm seeing when I hear 'Ronin' is a renegade or wandering samurai. I don't really think this guy would be one of those, just by hearing what he's done. A ronin has no master or lord. Though, this guy takes temporary ones, I assume.

Zane said he worked for Chen once, and he's the reason why Zane was on Chen's Island. It's unknown why Ronin took the scroll of Airjitsu, but I have a feeling it's going to remain unknown for a while.

I was starting to get annoyed with the little song the Ninja came up with. Something about bottles of tea on the wall. It's all they've sang as we've made our way to Stiix. Honestly, who even puts tea in bottles!? The only beverages I've seen in bottles is water, soda and alcohol. Not tea. Why tea though? Why is everything about tea here!? I'm convinced everyone is a clone of Sensei Wu or something, since tea is the most popular beverage in Ninjago. I honestly can't stand it anymore.

At one point, we got lost because we trusted Kai to lead the way, when we had Zane right here! We could have used Zane as a GPS to Stiix, but no, we let the flaming idiot lead the way! Really, I question why Kai was allowed to lead in the first place!

Obviously, I was angry with this whole deal. We burnt a whole ton of daylight that could have gotten us to Stiix, and we would have been closer to saving Lloyd! I know, people make mistakes, in this case Kai making the mistake of leading when he doesn't have a compass, but I couldn't help but feel peeved by the fact that we wasted time traveling in the wrong direction.

I started to feel dizzy as we started our trek to Stiix in the RIGHT direction this time. I rested my head against the yak's neck, hating the dizziness. Why did all this happen? Why did this Morro guy hyponotise Lloyd? Why did he make Lloyd attack us!? If all that hadn't have happened I wouldn't have this stupid concussion! It's all Morro's fault!

Eventually, we came up to a platform for a local train. I breathed a sigh of relief once we reached it. Finally! Signs of a village or something nearby! That must mean we're close to Stiix, right?

I got off my yak and stretched, my dizziness gone. What a relief! Suddenly, I heard cackling. I froze. Oh god, am I in some kind of horror movie now or something!?

"Um, did anyone else hear that?" I asked, slightly creeped out.

"I did...what was that!?" Cole said, trembling. We all looked around, trying to see if we could spot the source of the cackling. I couldn't see anything that could have made that sound. Odd.

I heard it again, and I started to tremble. Someone's here, and they're either trying to creep us out, or they're not friendly...at all.

Suddenly, I heard a screeching noise and saw a huge, glowing, green motorcycle appear out of nowhere. A glowing, hooded man was the one driving it, and he swung a glowing chain whip in the air. Geez, did this guy roll in some radioactive waste!? It sure looks like it.

I saw Zane throw a shuriken at the guy, missing him by a centimeter.

"Zane! You can't throw a shuriken at a ghost!" I heard Lilly yell. I was about to laugh. Ghost!? Lilly, ghosts can't drive motorcycles!

"Are you kidding me!? First off, ghosts aren't real! Second, they can't drive motorcycles!" I yelled.

"Alright, fine. Try to attack him yourself then!" I heard Lilly say. Okay, fine, I will. I'll show her.

I spotted a water tower and climbed halfway up the ladder as my friends dealt with the glowing biker. I prepared my bo staff and aimed for the perfect shot. I jumped towards the hooded man, ready to swing my staff. Though, when I did, it went right through his head. Through his head. My eyes widened. No, that's impossible! There's no way! The ghost man's eyes met mine as my staff continued to phase through his head. I watched him take his chain whip and swing it. It missed me by a few inches.

Instead of landing on the ground, I landed in Zane's arm. I patted his shoulder as he put me down.

" _Arigato, Mr. Roboto_ ," I said, to joke around a bit. I doubt he got that reference though.

"You are welcome, though you could just say 'thank you' in English instead of Japanese," Zane said, totally missing the reference. Well, I tried. I followed Zane in dodging the ghost's motorcycle. I didn't want to try covering this place in darkness. This ghost guy could be the same way Lloyd was.

"We're sitting ducks out in the open! We need to take shelter!" Kai yelled, dodging the motorcycle.

"But where!? I don't see a place to take shelter!" Jay said, freaking out. I watched the ghost swing his chain whip towards us.

"Watch out!" I heard Lilly yell. We all jumped out of the way of the whip. Instead of hitting us, the whip hit one of the yaks, turning it translucent. It was probably a ghost now. Unfortunately, becoming a ghost didn't take away the yak's stink.

"He turned my Walliper into a ghost! No one turns my Walliper into a ghost!" Jay yelled. Was it really necessary to name your yak, Jay!?

"If our weapons do nothing, how are we supposed to fight a ghost!?" he yelled, confused and upset.

"Maybe use our surroundings!? There's gotta be something that can stop this spirit!" Lilly suggested. Suddenly, the ghost rode by us, swinging another one of his chains and grabbing Kai by the ankle with it.

"Crap!" I heard Kai say as he was dragged away and around by the ghost.

"Or we just use Kai..." I heard Cole say. I saw Kai free himself from the chain using his sword. He rolled on the ground for a minute, then sat up.

"I'm okay!" he yelled, rubbing his head, "but the ghost's underground!"

Suddenly, a glowing, green spot appeared underneath Kai. He jumped up and out of the way as the ghost reappeared, phasing through the ground.

"Stand back!" Cole yelled, running in front of us all as the ghost drove towards us. He used his sword to grab the ghost's chain and wrapped it around the water tower on the platform. The ghost was thrown off the motorcycle and onto (or over) the tracks. I saw the bike become smaller, and it turn into a Softail model bike that was red. It looked rad.

I heard the ghost laughing, which caught my attention. He floated over the tracks, a sinister look in his eyes. Before he could say or do anything though, a train came speeding through, hitting the ghost. Or so I thought.

"That was one way to get rid of him," Cole said with triumph. Wait, can't ghosts phase through things!?

I saw the ghost reappear, his glowing yellow eyes filled with rage now.

"You think a train can stop a ghost!? Your world will pay when Morro finds a host! And when he does, he'll take possession of the-" Before the ghost could finish, the water tower fell, and the ghost was drenched. The ghost became bloated, then exploded, sending slime everywhere.

"Ew," I said, backing away from the glowing, green goo.

"Um, what just happened?" Cole said, wiping some of the slime off his suit.

"He went...cablooey," Zane said, with a pause. Even he was confused.

"It looks like water makes them explode," I observed. Well, Lilly could have been a big help with this, but unfortunately Morro, or Lloyd, whoever he is, broke her hand and the shard. Just our luck, huh?

"Water makes them blow up, huh?" Jay said, rubbing his chin. Then, everyone looked at Lilly.

"What?" she said.

"Your powers. You could give us a huge advantage in beating Morro!" Kai said happily.

"Eh, I don't think..." her voice trailed off. I was about to question what she was so hesitant about, then I remembered. Her powers are gone. The only people who know about the shard are Lloyd and I, and possibly Zane. No one else knows.

"What's wrong? Wait, did your powers disappear too when Lloyd got possessed!?" Jay asked, confused.

"No," she said, holding her broken hand and looking away.

"Then, what is-" Kai started to say, but then was interrupted by Lilly yelling "The only reason why I had these powers was because I messed with the Elemental Forge of ice! It was imbedded in the hand that was broken! The shard was shattered when my hand broke, so I'm pretty much useless now. All I can do is swing a sword."

The Ninja (minus Zane) looked pretty surprised to hear this. Lilly went ahead and explained how she got the modified shard of the ice forge in her hand and how she's been acting like she got her powers naturally this whole time. She even explained how Lloyd, Zane, and I already knew.

"So, basically-" before Cole could even finish, Lilly said "Yeah, a fake, I know. You don't need to say it."

"No, that's not what I was going to say," Cole said, "Though, you didn't need to keep it a secret. We would have accepted you anyway. You're doing what those who could have had that knowledge may not have done, save lives and the city. You've even helped the team. You're not useless, Lilly. Just because you don't have powers doesn't suddenly make you inept. You're still powerful, powers or not."

I saw Lilly smile a bit.

"I honestly think it's cool you were able to do that. You're gonna have to teach me how to do that!" Jay said, smiling.

"Jay, no," Cole said, crossing his arms.

"Besides, you can always get your hand healed at the hospital, and you can fix the shard, right?" Kai said. Lilly's smile faded.

"I can always get a cast on this thing, but fixing the shard will take a longer time. I honestly want to stop Morro first before I worry about any of this," she said.

"Alright then, shouldn't take long to stop Morro anyway. We're almost to Stiix. We'll save Lloyd in no time!" Kai smiled. Ha, if only it was that easy.

"Hey, um, you think we should have ran after that train?" Jay said, looking up and down the tracks. Crap! That train could have been heading to Stiix! We missed it!

"No worries. My sensors indicate there's one approaching now. We are lucky," Zane informed us. I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard the train sound it's horn. I guess we do have _some_ luck after all.


	5. Chapter 5

It was quite pleasant to be able to take a train instead of riding on a yak for several more hours. I don't think I could have taken it any longer. The smell of the yak is burned into my nostrils now though. Ick. How can farmers even stand it!?

An even greater thing, the train wasn't crowded so we could move with ease and not be squished. Though, the people on the train all gave us weird looks, most likely because of our outfits, and the appearance of Zane. Zane didn't seem to notice the passengers staring though.

"Hopefully it won't take long to get to Stiix," I heard Lilly say, looking at her bandaged hand. I nodded in agreement.

"According to Pixal's calculations, we should be arriving at Stiix in approximately ten minutes. We are most likely ahead of Morro," Zane informed us all. I breathed a sigh of relief. Ten minutes. Definitely much faster than the yaks. So, if we're ahead of Morro, then that means we'll be able to save Lloyd before anything really bad happens, right!? Though, my gut keeps telling me something bad has already happened. I'm really wishing now that I wasn't so paranoid. As the train pulled into the station, my gut gave me another thought. What if Morro has already beaten us here?

We walked down a boardwalk leading to Stiix, and I must say, it's almost like how Myung has described it in her letters, minus the supposed 'good smell'. Stiix was foggy and surrounded by sea, just how you'd expect a place known for fishing. Though, it smelled a lot like salt water, fish, and oddly enough, glue. Don't even ask me how I smelled that in the air, it was just there with the salt water and fish. They must have a glue factory around here or something.

We approached a sign over the boardwalk that welcomed people. A man sat on top of it, wearing clothes I thought I'd only see in villages. So Ninjago City is the only place that's with the modern times right now?

"Welcome to Stiix!" the man greeted us, then, he got a sharp tug on his fishing pole. "Watch yourself!" he said, before being pulled into the water by possibly a big fish. We ran over to the railing to see the man resurface, giving a look mixed with happiness and surprise. I turned to see Kai sitting on the boardwalk, looking a little frightened.

"What's his deal?" I asked the others.

"He's probably afraid of heights," Jay said. Well, I can relate to that.

"I'm fine with heights, it's water I hate," Kai said. I heard a small "pfft" come from Lilly, then she broke out laughing.

"What!?" Kai said.

"I know what I'm gonna do for Halloween now," Lilly said, still laughing. I remember being told once that around and on Halloween, Lilly would always try to scare the others. She always failed when it came to Zane and Sensei Wu though.

"Oh god, Lilly, please do-" Kai started to say, but was interrupted by Lilly saying "Too late, it's already set in stone. Now, _water_ you waiting for? Let's go."

"Hey! I was going to make that pun!" Jay said, crossing his arms as we moved along.

As we walked through Stiix, Zane hung back to talk to Lilly and I.

"I do not recommend using water as a way to frighten Kai, Lilly," Zane advised to Lilly.

"Huh? Why? A fear like that can't be that bad, can it?" she said, confused.

"His fears may be ridiculous to you, but there is a reason as to why he has them. I am sure you already know why he is scared of Christmas," Zane said. Lilly nodded. Wait, Kai's afraid of Christmas!? Well, I don't blame him. The thought of a fat, bearded man breaking into your home to eat all the cookies and drink all the milk does sound pretty creepy. Only thing great about it is that he leaves behind presents. I'm pretty sure Kai would be afraid of Hoteiosho too, if that's the case.

"That one I can understand, as it is traumatizing, but why exactly is he scared of water?" Lilly asked. Traumatizing? Did something happen to him during Christmas then?

"While you both were gone, we went to the beach for a day, just to relax. Kai got in a competition with Cole to see who could swim the farthest from shore. I noticed that while they were swimming, Cole was swimming much farther than Kai. I'm sure that made Kai angry, since he always wants to win, so he pushed himself to swim farther out to the deeper parts, beyond his comfort zone. I think Kai forgot that he didn't quite know how to swim, and had no idea how to keep his head above water then. When Cole returned to shore, saying he had lost track of Kai, I knew something was wrong. I swam out to where I had last seen him to find that he had sunk, and had been unconscious. Fearing that he may be dead, I dived underwater and retrieved him, bringing him to shore. I was relieved to find he was alive, but if I had taken any longer he may have died,"

"Since then, he has been afraid of deep and rising waters. He can take shallow water to an extent, but if it rises past his knees then he will be frightened."

Holy crapola. No wonder! I can understand why he has aquaphobia now.

"I never knew...I'm not going to do that for Halloween now. I'm mean, but I'm not _that_ mean," Lilly said, looking a little guilty for laughing at his fear earlier.

"Yes, please do not do it," Zane said. Just then, we approached a small shop. A sign above the door read "Pawn Shop".

"So, this must be where Ronin is hiding," I heard Cole say. So, we do get to meet him. I'm actually trying to imagine what he looks like. With a name like that, I'm imagining that he looks like some kind of samurai, but at the same time I'm imagining a guy who looks like Han Solo. I guess the only way to find out what he looks like is to go inside, right?

It was when we enter the shop, we discovered an oddity. Probably the most confusing, enraging, and surprising thing in my life. One being Ronin himself, the second being what was in his pawn shop.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Posted here on Tumblr: post/128813847201/update-on-my-fanfics**_

Once we walked in, I noticed rows of artifacts instantly, some too expensive-looking for me to even believe they were given away. I saw Cole walk over to a trophy sitting on the shelf, he inspected it, then looked a little angry.

"Hey! This is my dad's Blade Cup trophy! What's it doing in a pawn shop!?" he said, looking it over. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilly slip something into the inside pocket of her gi. I assumed that she had just found something that belonged to her parents, though I don't know if that was actually the case.

I walked over to another shelf and looked it over. I froze when my eyes fell on a piece that I could recognize anywhere. A bird, which I had assumed to be a raven was engraved on the front of it, and it's feathers were gold and purple. The rest of the piece was black with gold lining. This is my mom's! It's the chestplate she always hung in her bedroom! How the hell did this end up here!? None of my parents would ever sell something like this! It's a family heirloom! It was going to be passed down to me someday! Oh, there's no way I'm letting this Ronin guy get away with this.

I picked it up and held onto it. I'm not letting Ronin and his filthy shop keep this piece of beauty here any longer. It's going home with me, where it belongs.

"Ronin, going so soon?" I heard Jay say. So he is here. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind! What the hell does he think he's doing selling one of my family's most prized possessions!? Kai, Cole, Zane, Jay, and Lilly all cornered him, and I could hear them talking about how he left the Ninja somewhere, and something about business. I honestly didn't care about that right now. I still wanted to find out how the hell he got my mom's chestplate!

I broke through the crowd, glaring at Ronin.

"And how did you get this!?" I said, holding up the chestplate.

"Someone came in and pawned it off of course," he replied.

"Ha! Yeah right! Last I recall, this was hanging in my parents' room! There's no way anyone except my parents can get in there! And don't say one of them pawned it off, because they never would!" I argued.

"Well, maybe there was another way either I or someone else got into your house," Ronin said, raising his eyebrows up and down. I was disgusted. No one in my family would do anything like that!

"You sicko! I hope one of these ghosts take your disgusting soul," I shouted, crossing my arms.

"Now now, no need to be harsh. I was only joking. Reminder that I'm not a teenage boy, I'm a grown man. I don't do that kind of shit," Ronin said. That didn't sound like a joke to me. More like he's trying to gross me out.

I was about to argue back when Lilly put her hand in front of me and whispered "Reminder that we're here to get the Scroll of Airjitsu so we can stop Morro and save Lloyd. We can deal with your issue later."

I can't believe I forgot about Lloyd and Morro. I got so caught up in my own personal issue that I forgot what we're here for. I felt mad at myself then. I put a metallic chestpiece before my best friend, some friend I am, right? Though, if my family loses this piece, it brings bad luck to whoever last touched it. I guess I could live up to my nickname then. 'Karma' is the bringing of bad luck to someone who deserves it, right? Though, I think I've been living up to my nickname this whole time. I'm not sure.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Ronin say "What you need is an 'aeroblade'."

Okay, what the heck is an 'aeroblade'? Sounds like some kind of edgy Frisbee name to be honest. A name to get all the kids and teens to play with the Frisbee because it makes you look cool supposedly. I know what marketers do. I know their strategy, but I'll give them points for trying at least.

Ronin held up six oversized shurikens, each coincidentally with our colors. _Those_ are Frisbees!?...I mean Aeroblades? Okay, it lives up to it's name a bit. "Forged by deepstone and aquatic mined at the bottom of the ocean. Very unique, and even more expensive." Jesus Christ, Ronin wants money _really_ badly, doesn't he?

"Can't you see he's just giving us the run around?" Kai sighed impatiently. He walked up to Ronin and grabbed him by the collar of the shirt underneath his armor, saying "We want the scroll, Ronin. What do you want for it?"

He wants money obviously! Or, that's at least what I would want if I was this eyepatch-wearing lowlife.

"Two hundred," Ronin smirked. See!?

"What!? Two hundred!? We don't have that kind of dough!" Jay shouted in disbelief. Did he seriously expect this pirate to give it to us for cheap? I'm not a smart girl, but that'd be my logic. Really though, how does Ronin expect us to cough up that amount of money!?

"What if we told you the future of Ninjago depends on it?" Cole said in a serious tone. Ronin rubbed his chin.

"In that case, that changes everything," he said. I heard Kai breathe a sigh of relief.

"Four hundred!" Ronin smiled. What the hell!?

"This guy is the exact reason why I wipe my faith in humanity on people's shirts," Lilly mumbled to herself, "He chooses money instead of the futures of those around him."

She stepped forward, and I saw the blade of her katana start to slip out of her sleeve. Oh, no. We're not solving this with violence!

I grabbed her by the arm and whispered "You do it and you ruin the future of Ninjago."

She looked at me, one of her eyes twitching. I was a little creeped out by that. She's never done that before, even when she was at rage-level anger.

"Besides, you don't want to worsen the condition of your hand, do you?" I whispered. She sighed and the blade slipped back into her sleeve. How the heck does she even fit here katana in there without it cutting her arm open? I gotta know how she does it.

Evidently, while I was restraining Lilly from committing a murder, some had said that Ronin's price was unfair, which was really true.

"My shop, my rules," Ronin stated proudly. Kai attempted to negotiate a different price, but he ended up raising it by fifty dollars.

"Nice negotiations, Kai," Jay said sarcastically.

"I didn't see you do any better," Kai argued.

"Both of you didn't do any better, now can we get on with this? We're burning up the time we could use to save Ninjago and Lloyd," I glared at both of them.

"We should try to make money. I am sure there are a lot of short jobs in Stiix we could do to make enough," Zane offered. We all agreed, nodding.

"This should be easy," Cole smiled.

As we walked out of the shop, Lilly hid the chestplate in her gi, making sure Ronin didn't see it. I'm still wondering how she does it. Does it have something to do with magic?

I turned before I walked out of the shop, flashing a thumbs down at Ronin, which utterly confused him.

"Gosh, you really do hate him a lot, huh?" Kai said, most likely knowing what it meant.

"Pointing out the obvious there," I said. Our friends looked confused.

"What? A thumbs down can't be that bad," Jay said.

"In Karma and Kai's culture, yes. Giving a thumbs down means 'go to hell' for them. It is almost the equivalent of the middle finger for them as well," Zane explained.

"Oh," Jay said, a little surprised.

"Yupp. Fact of the day," I said as we walked past the tall and dull buildings of Stiix. As we walked down the boardwalk (which is like city streets to people native of Stiix), I could see a crane come into view. Next to it was a dock that looked to be broken and a bewildered docksman. I smiled.

"Guys, I think we just found our first job."


	7. Chapter 7

We approached the docksman as he scratched his head, looking at the broken dock.

"You look a bit troubled, sir. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Cole asked, smiling. The docksman turned, looking pleased to see our presence.

"Ah, yeah. I've been trying to repair this dock for a while now, but it's becoming impossible," the docksman said, taking off his cap for a moment to scratch his balding head.

"Let us help you then! We can get this done in no time," Jay said positively.

"Really? Well, okay, tell you what. If you guys are able to fix this dock, I'll pay you greatly," the docksman offered. We all nodded. Hopefully it's enough to get the scroll, or aeroblades. Whatever we're after.

"We won't let you down!" Cole said, smiling and jogging over to the dark. We all followed him.

"Okay, so, Kai. You work the crane," Cole said, pointing at the crane nearby, then he turned to the rest of us, "As for us, let's get the hammers and nails. Lilly, you sure you're gonna be fine doing this? With your hand and all?"

Lilly sighed, as if she were annoyed. "Just because my hand's broken doesn't mean I can't do stuff," she said.

"We just want to make sure your hand's condition doesn't get worse. You don't want them to amputate your hand when we finally get you to a hospital, do you?" I said. She shrugged.

"I dunno. Getting my hand amputated and getting a robotic hand would be pretty cool, not to mention the robotic hand would definitely look badass," Lilly said. Ugh, amputation isn't a good thing!

"Alright, let's get to fixing this dock, before we lose anymore time," Cole said walking over to a section of the dock. I nodded and went to different section, nailing a board into place. Zane started to shout cheers as we worked, lifting our spirits and motivating us. To be honest, I didn't know androids could become cheerleaders in a flash. I honestly wonder what Zane would be like if he were a cheerleader at a highschool or something.

I had to rest after nailing a few more boards into place, as my headaches started up again. They throbbed, as if someone inside my head were trying to shatter my forehead open with a hammer. I watched my friends work along as Zane shouted cheers in a positive voice. I smiled. If only Lloyd were here to see this, right? He'd be so happy. Well, I'm sure he's seen his team work together like this many times before but, I don't know, this just seems so great. It's something I'd never see the sports teams from school or my old friends do. Everyone is just working together in perfect harmony. It's something I thought I would have seen in a big battle or a movie, but no. I'm seeing it when we're fixing a stranger's dock. And really, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just happy to see my friends working together so well.

Just when I thought things were going great for us again, bad luck decided to return and screw things up again. I saw the crane arm swing and drop a pile of heavy logs onto the dock. My eyes widened and I quickly moved out of the way of the logs. Unfortunately, I tripped over the edge of the dock, but I grasped the edge just in time before I fell into the dark water. Phew. That was close. But is everyone else okay? More importantly, why did Kai drop the logs onto the dock!? Or did he mean to?

I started to climb back onto what remained of the dock when I felt something wrap itself around my leg and tightened. It tried to pull me into the water too. I looked down to see something green wrapped around my foot. It looked like a snake at the time. I would later learn what it really was.

I let out a shriek, thinking some kind of mutant sea snake was trying to pull me into the water so I could become its snack.

I quickly crawled onto a remaining piece of the dock, continuously hitting my foot against the boards, trying to get this thing to get off my foot. It finally let go of my foot and receded into the water as Jay ran up to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He probably heard me shriek earlier.

"Why was there a snake trying to pull me into the water!?" I shouted, shaken up by what just happened. My headache hurt even worse now though.

"Snake? Oh, you probably got caught on some strangle weed," Jay said. Strangle Weed!? Who gives a plant that kind of name!? It sounds more like a name you would give a murder!

"I've encountered that stuff before. It's pretty scary the first time it catches you," Jay said, offering a hand to help me up. I took it and stood up.

"Is everyone okay though?" I asked as we walked down a sliver of what used to be the dock.

"Well, Zane's speech and voice got screwed up. I could try to fix it, but it wouldn't be easy. If only we had trusted someone other than Kai to pilot the crane," Jay sighed, "Other than that, everyone is fine. No injuries."

I felt relieved, but a little mad now. Zane was a huge help for this whole thing! Now we won't possibly understand him at all! Ugh, why are we suddenly being stricken with all this bad luck!? Did we do something to deserve this!? If so, what!?

The docksman was pretty upset to find his dock had been destroyed, and obviously, we didn't get any money. Jay tried desperately to fix Zane's speech with the only tools he had, but all he could do was get Zane's speech to be in reverse. Just our luck, huh? Now how are we supposed to get the scroll!?

"I'm sorry Zane, you tried to lead, but I guess it didn't work out too well," Cole said.

"I guess we're stuck now, huh?" Kai said, looking guilty.

"What are we, a bunch of quitters!?" Jay exclaimed, looking disappointed at all of us.

Lilly raised her hand slightly. "Um, I didn't say I quit," she said.

Jay, ignoring Lilly's statement, continued on, "Sure we don't understand Zane now, but did we ever?" Zane turned to look at him, giving him a what-did-you-just-freaking-say face. I expected Zane to push him into the water for that statement.

"Kai's the last person I'd ever I would want to follow. But now I'm the one in charge, and we may not have money for the scroll, but I say we don't need it," Jay continued. What did he mean 'we don't need it'? Wait, he doesn't mean-!?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We're gonna steal it," Jay smiled. He meant it. I knew it. But, stealing is against my morals! I know if I steal I'll get in trouble, but is this an exception? I didn't know how to feel.

"Jay, we're ninja, not thieves!" Cole said, crossing his arms. I nodded.

"Yeah, but we're stealing from a thief," Jay reminded Cole. He was right. Ronin did technically steal my mother's chestplate, as well as many other things. I guess it can't be _that_ bad to steal from a thief...

"I don't really think it would be a good idea, Jay. This could turn violent quickly if Ronin is the right kind of person," Lilly said. Jay huffed.

"Hey! I'm the leader and what I say goes!" Geez, so being leader allows you to act like a mild tyrant? "After Ronin locks up tonight, we're gonna steal the scroll of Airjitsu."

I still didn't like the idea of stealing, but I had no choice. It was our last resort to get the scroll and save Lloyd. If I have to go against my morals to save my best friend from this evil ghost, so be it. I'll do whatever it takes.

We silently waited for Ronin to lock his shop, then we made our move. Under the cover of night, we snuck roof to roof to his shop. We made our way to the shop, being delayed when Jay fell through the roof of a home, causing a woman to shriek. I tried not to laugh at the noise, but I couldn't help it.

"Eh, let's try to be a little more quieter. We're ninja, remember? Not elephants," Cole said when Jay regrouped with us. Cole broke a window, allowing us to get into the shop. Gee, never knew I'd be doing something like this. Stealing from a shop. My parents would be disappointed in my actions, but it's for good, right? I'm sure they'd understand.

I looked around, trying to find the scroll, despite my sudden nausea. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. Why? Because, look at what's happened so far today! Ronin won't give us the scroll, the dock we were fixing was destroyed, and Jay fell through someone's roof, possibly alerting the authorities. How could this go any better? I'm sure our bad luck followed us into this shop.

I listened to Jay brag about how he was going to be the "great leader that saved Lloyd", and Cole thinking he found the scroll, but it was actually the blade cup. I get it's dark in here but Cole, how could you not tell it was the blade cup when you picked it up!?

"I'm taking this back," Cole said, holding onto it, "My dad danced hard for this."

Suddenly, I heard a shriek escape Jay. "Holy lights! The organ's got me! The organ's got me!" he panicked. I turned to see the pipe of an organ wrapped around Jay. He struggled and kicked, trying to get out. "Water! Water!"

He seemed to forget none of us had water on hand.

"You know, if that goddamn ghost didn't break my hand, I could have gotten you out by now," Lilly said, trying to remind Jay she didn't have her powers. I saw Cole suddenly give his dad's trophy to Zane, then run up to what looked like a jug. He poured water from the jug onto the organ. The organ released Jay, dropping him onto the floor. He crawled away from it, shaken. Zane said something, but I couldn't quite understand him.

"I think he said 'That must have been one of Morro's friends'," Cole guessed. I'm sure of it. It's not everyday that an organ restrains someone like that.

"And there's more where that came from!" someone shouted from the other side of the shop. I turned to see Lloyd, no, Morro standing there, a smile on his face. With the armor he was wearing, he summoned more ghost allies. They floated around us, their ghostly moans sounding like something similar to a movie. You know what? No. I'm not dealing with this. I want to fight Morro, not these stupid ghosts!

"Morro, you coward! Quit summoning ghosts and take us on like a man!" I shouted, evading a hit from a ghost.

"A confident one, huh? Ha, I remember when I used to be like you," I heard Morro say. I felt a ball of dark magic grow in my hand. Woah, I guess I can use it with thinking sometimes! I threw the ball towards Morro, hoping I wouldn't hurt Lloyd too much. I mean, whatever Morro does to Lloyd's body, Lloyd is going to feel it and notice it when he comes back into control. Or, that's at least what I know from movies.

Morro dodged it, hidden by sudden fog that was appearing in the room. I turned to see my friends using the aeroblades. It looked like the aeroblades killed the ghosts from that I could see. I ran over and grabbed mine. I threw it at a ghost floating above Kai. The aeroblade flew back to me, like a boomerang. Now this is nice! It's the only good thing that happened to us today! Maybe we actually do have some good luck! Suddenly I heard a crash, my friends yelling "The scroll!", and the sound of a whistle. The building shook then. Well, just our luck. I actually thought we were going to be lucky for once, but I was wrong. I know I always say I was wrong when I thought something, but this time, I was big time wrong. So wrong I could have failed a class on this. Very, very wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

All of us ran for the scroll, but Ronin picked it up before any of us could reach it. That slimeball, I really hope Morro takes his nasty soul now. He hopped onto his ship, which had crashed through the floor and flew off into the sky. Hoping to make him lose control and crash, I surrounded his ship with darkness. Unfortunately, he flew out of it with ease, as if there was no blinding darkness there in the first place. I stomped my foot out of frustration. Why isn't anything going our way today!?

"Sorry to leave you hanging, but since this scroll is just so important, I can't give it away," Ronin said, "And sorry sweetheart, but darkness won't stop this old man."

Suddenly, a gust of wind hit his ship, knocking him off. Oh, of course! Morro can stop him but I can't! Of freakin' course! My friends darted off in Ronin's direction and I followed. We need to get to that scroll before Morro! We jumped onto the roof of a building and continued to chase him. I saw Morro catching up with Ronin, and at the same time, Jay fell through another roof. For some reason, I knew that was going to happen. Just a gut feeling.

We stopped at a gap which was too big for any of us to jump. I saw Kai and Cole grab two wires attached to the building and start to swing to the other side. Oh, no. You guys aren't leaving without me. I jumped the farthest I could, and grabbed ahold of Kai's leg.

"What the heck?" I heard Kai say. He looked down and nearly lost his grasp on the wire out of surprise. "Karma!? What the hell are you doing!?"

"I'm not being left behind!" I replied.

"You're gonna make me fall off!" Kai shouted.

"Oh, come on! I'm not _that_ heavy!" I argued. We landed on the roof and continued to run after Morro. Evidently, he had the scroll now. I had to admit, running roof to roof was starting to tire me out. I was starting to run out of breath. Though, we were getting closer to Morro. I had to keep running. I had to keep going.

When we jumped to the next roof, I missed the edge, causing me to fall onto the boardwalk below. The impact knocked the wind out of me. Cole had fallen as well, unfortunately onto a stack of logs.

"Go Kai," he said weakly as Kai continued to run after Morro.

"Are you alright, Cole?" I asked as I got up. He nodded and sat up.

"I'm fine but my back isn't," he sighed, then groaned, "Ugh, I feel like an old man."

Just then, Zane, Lilly, and Jay finally caught up with us.

"Kai chasing Morro?" Lilly asked, out of breath. I nodded.

"We need to catch up," Jay said. We all nodded and ran in the direction I remember seeing Kai heading. Hopefully he hasn't done anything stupid yet. Hopefully he's gotten the scroll back.

Kai approached us as we waited on the boardwalk. It didn't look like he had the scroll or Morro. I felt disappointed. Morro must have gotten away with it.

"Kai, what's going on? Did you get the scroll?" Lilly asked.

"Well, Ronin saved me from some strangle weed, but I had to do something in return. So, I gave him my share of the tea farm, along with you guys' shares too," he admitted. I didn't know if I should have been mad or not. Do Lilly and I even have a share? Either way, I still felt slightly mad.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me, Kai!" Jay shouted, angry.

"Seriously!?" Cole shouted in disbelief.

"I did what I had to do, and for Lloyd I'd do it again," Kai said. I could agree with him. I'd do anything to save Lloyd too, even if it meant making my friends mad.

"Well, what do we do now? We don't have the scroll, and Morro's probably making his way to the next destination," Lilly asked, "We don't even know where it is!"

"Well," Kai said, rubbing his chin, "I may have an idea of where the next place Morro is going is."

"And where would that be?" Cole asked.

"I'll tell you guys about it on the way there, but for now," Kai said, then he looked at me, "Karma, do you think you can fit five people onto your dragon?"

Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting.


	9. Chapter 9

"Welcome to Yang's Haunted Temple!" a tour guide said, cheerfully. Yeah, a haunted temple. This was the place Kai said we had to go next. He said there's something about Airjitsu in here, though, I don't know about running through a supposed 'haunted temple' for it. And to be honest, when they say 'Sensei Yang', I'm honestly thinking of a blonde girl with gauntlets, not an old ghost.

"Unfortunately, we can't bring anyone inside because rumor has it that if you don't get out of the temple by sunrise, you'll become a ghost!" the tour guide said. Well that's great. Nothing like being rushed to find whatever thing we need in there. Then again, there's twelve hours in a night, so we should be fine, right? I think we'll be fine.

"I HOPE IT'S NOT A RUMOR, FOR IT'S OUR ONLY HOPE!" Zane said, his voice unnecessarily loud. His voice must still be broken. Everyone in the group stared at us.

"Uh, sorry. My friend's a little hard of hearing," Cole said, scratching his head. The tour guide glared at us, annoyed. She turned back to explaining the temple and walked off with the group, leaving us behind.

"I thought you fixed him," Kai said, looking at Jay.

"At least he's not talking backwards! I guess my tinkering got his volume button stuck though," Jay replied. I guess I preferred this over Zane speaking backwards, as we could actually understand him this time. I figured that if his voice stayed backwards, we'd have to get a voice recorder thing and play what he said backwards to understand him. I'm glad we don't have to do that now.

"Anyways, don't say anything unless it's really important, okay Zane?" Cole said. Zane nodded.

"Who put you in charge!?" Kai asked Cole.

"Wasn't Cole the original leader?" I asked.

"Yeah, but-" Kai was interrupted.

"Besides, things didn't go well while you were leader," Lilly shrugged.

"Nothing has gone well overall! It wasn't just when I was leading!" Kai argued.

"Well, I dunno..." Lilly said, smiling and rubbing her chin.

"Please don't list all the things that happened. I get I screwed up at some point while leading," Kai sighed.

"Okay, would you two lovebirds quit bickering? I want to explain my plan!" Cole raised his voice. I cracked up when Lilly and Kai's faces became red. I don't think Cole knew they weren't exactly bickering, but their reactions were priceless!

"Alright so, we sneak in, learn Airjitsu from the ghost of Sensei Yang, and get out before sunrise!" Cole shared his plan. It sounded complicated, but it could be accomplished, right? I'm sure we all could get out in time. Again, there's twelve hours in a night, right? Though, we don't know how Sensei Yang is, so how can we so easily expect him to teach us Airjitsu? I guess it's really up to luck. Maybe Sensei Yang is a really nice person.

We waited until sundown to enter the temple, possibly because of the fact that if you don't get out before sunrise, you become a spirit, and well, it could affect you if you entered in the daytime too, right? Possibly. That's my theory, and most likely Cole's too.

I entered through a door to the temple with my friends, while Cole and Jay tried to yank planks off of a boarded up window, not noticing the door. They quickly followed us in, pretending they actually did notice the door. Once we all were inside, the door slammed shut without any signs of anyone pushing or pulling it. I was startled by the sudden slam, nearly shrieking.

"Spooky," Lilly smiled. How is she not startled!?

"What? You think a ghost slammed that?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Probably the wind," Cole said, beginning down to walk the hallway. We all followed. Lilly giggled as we walked.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You got scared by a door. I thought you said you watched a whole ton of horror movies to the point where you can't be scared anymore," Lilly said. Okay, that wasn't entirely true. I mean, I did watch a lot of horror movies, but I still get scared by the toaster, and just now a door. Though, I guess telling everyone I was the unscareable was a huge lie. Crap, now I'm the liar.

"Okay, fine, I still get scared by the toaster," I admitted.

"Karma, the toaster scares everyone," Jay said, looking back at us.

"It doesn't scare me!" Kai lied in a voice full of pride.

"Kai, shut up. Of course it does. You screamed the other day because you got startled by it," Cole said. Kai's cheeks became pink out of humiliation.

"Oh my god, his reaction that day was priceless!" Jay said, laughing. Then he mocked Kai's voice and scream and said "'AAAAAAAA It's gonna kill me! It's gonna kill me!"

Kai glared at Jay, obviously even more humiliated. I couldn't help but laugh. It's pretty hilarious to think about his reaction.

We stopped at a door and walked inside, discovering a library of sorts. It smelled like mothballs inside and was extremely dusty. Okay, this stuff is probably older than my Grandfather Yu, and he's pretty old. I turned to look at the walls and noticed spiders crawling on the wall. I turned away, pretending that I just didn't notice the spawns of Satan. As long as I pretend they aren't there I won't scream.

"Well, if this place is truly haunted, we should wait for Sensei Yang himself to show up," Kai said, looking around the room.

"Ha, yeah, totally, because some old ghost is going to go 'Eyyy there's some kids in here I'm gonna go say hi and teach them Airjitsu'," Lilly said sarcastically.

"If he was going to do that he would have shown up by now," Cole said, sounding a little panicked, "Besides, didn't you hear what the tour guide said? We gotta be out of here by sunrise."

Kai opened his mouth, about to say something when Cole said in a worried voice "I don't wanna be a ghost. Who wants to be a ghost!? And why didn't anyone warn us that it would get so creepy after dark!?"

"Cole, calm down. We'll be out of here in no time," I reassured him. Cole turned to watch Zane pick up a book. Jay rushed over to him.

"Allow me," Jay said, taking the book gently from Zane's hands. He opened the book and looked inside, suddenly becoming intrigued by what he found.

"Woah, it says here that Sensei Yang's unusual strict teachings drove some of his pupils away, others admit to never seeing some leave temple grounds, suggesting a more sinister plot. How awesome is that?" he read. Wait, 'sinister plot'? 'never seeing some leave the temple'? What does this mean? Does this mean that-

"So, Sensei Yang killed his students, or maybe they killed themselves?" Lilly said. It was my assumption too. Something sinister had happened here. The book and my gut feeling say it all.

"What makes you think that?" Jay asked.

"Well, think about it. 'Unusual strict teachings', 'never seeing some leave the temple', 'sinister plot'? Wouldn't you all think something suspicious happened here? Especially since some students were never seen again? Besides, haunted house doesn't always have just one ghost," Lilly said, "I'm really thinking this Sensei Yang guy isn't very friendly."

"Well, maybe Sensei Yang was hard on his pupils for a reason. As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student," Cole said, disagreeing.

"But to the point where his pupils may have committed suicide? That doesn't sound like a sensei sharpening his students. It sounds like a sensei driving his students over the brink," Lilly argued.

Suddenly, a loud thud was heard, causing us all to look at the grandfather clock in the room. Jay suddenly pushed Cole towards it.

"You're the big muscular guy, you should go check it out," Jay declared as he pushed Cole towards it, "You are the leader after all!"

Cole looked panicked and shaky as he reached towards it. I could tell he didn't want to open it, for fear of what may be inside. He took a deep breath and reached for the handle, when suddenly a falcon flew out, startling Cole and making him scream in a higher pitched voice. The falcon flew over to Zane and perched on his arm. He pressed a button on the falcon, making it play back Cole's scream. So, that must be the pet robotic falcon that Zane owns. I've never seen it before. To be honest, I expected it to be made out of titanium, like Zane.

"A prank!? Really!?" Cole shouted, ticked as everyone laughed.

"We were just trying to help you laugh," Kai said.

"You should have heard your scream!" Jay cracked up.

Lilly sighed, as if she were annoyed. "Guys, if we want to get out of here before sunrise, we shouldn't be playing around," I could agree with her. The more time we mess around the more time we waste, correct?

Suddenly we heard a crash which startled us all. Cole, believing it to be another prank, walked out the door.

"Cole! We didn't do it that time!" Jay shouted, running towards the door. We all followed. We turned down a hallway to find Cole standing at a door.

"Cole! That crash wasn't a prank! It's real!" I warned him, trying to convince him.

"Okay, I have to admit, this is pretty good. How did you guys get the handle to move all by itself? Is Nya behind there?" Cole asked, unconvinced. The only thing I know that's behind there could be certain death...and spiders...and certain death spiders. Cole walked through and we followed. We noticed that the inside was a dojo, with a shrine, for whom I guessed to be Sensei Yang, in the center.

"This must have been where his students trained," Kai observed, looking around.

"Or where they met their end," Jay said, shaking out of fear.

"Knock it off! If it wasn't you guys rattling the door, then who was it?" Cole questioned, crossing his arms.

"The ghost of Sensei Yang," the Ninja claimed in unison.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice started to say and repeat Sensei Yang's saying. Okay, there's no way science can explain that. This place truly is haunted.

I was the first to the run for the door, and the others followed. We ran out into the hallway as the door slammed shut behind us. We all ran down the hall, bats suddenly chasing us down the hall. Really!? If there's bats, why can't there be Batman!? It was then, as I ran, I noticed something. By a boarded up window sat a pair of shoes. The shoes looked to be those of older times by how they looked. The way they were put there so neatly and untouched confused me, then I had a sick realization. I know why those shoes are there. It's only traditional someone do that before they...

Lilly's theory was right. Sensei Yang either killed his students or drove them over the brink. I suddenly felt very upset and a wave of nausea hit me. We're in a house of horrors, where many students died, and we all could be the next victims. I suddenly felt terrified.

I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't hear my friends talking, but the maniacal laughter of the Sensei pulled me out of my thoughts, causing me to gasp out of fear.

"Maybe we should head for the front door," Cole suggested.

"But that's downstairs! And if you haven't noticed, there's floating weapons trying to kill us!" Kai argued, looking a bit terrified.

"LOOK! THERE'S A DUMB WAITER!" Zane said, pointing at it. I noticed that only four people could fit. Well crap.

As the the Ninja climbed in, Kai questioned "What about you two?"

"We'll take the second trip down. You guys just go and don't worry, alright?" Lilly said. Kai nodded and he disappeared with the guys in the dumb waiter. As we waited, I started to hear voices chanting. _"Triangle, chair, comb, crossed,"_ it chanted. I didn't understand it, but it must have been something Lilly knew, because she was paying attention to it. She was turned away from me, so I couldn't see her reaction. She didn't show any signs of terror, so it's just something stupid, right?

Suddenly, we heard a crash that startled the both of us. The only thing I could assume was that the dumb waiter fell, or the ghost of Sensei Yang is coming to kill us, or both. I saw Lilly run over to the wall and feel around for the switch to open the door to the dumb waiter. She hit the switch and the door opened to a rope.

"Hopefully you have your gloves on, or you're getting rope burn," Lilly said, grabbing onto the rope, "By the way, could I borrow your staff?"

I handed her my staff. What's her plan?

"Alright, follow me down," she said, sliding down the rope. I waited a few seconds, then grabbed on, sliding down. I heard a slam, then something breaking beneath me. I saw an opening now on the top of the dumb waiter. Lilly must have broken the top open with the staff. I jumped through the hole, meeting her on the inside. She was silent, as if she were listening for something. Suddenly, I could hear the Ninja screaming. Did they run into Sensei Yang's spirit...or are they dying!?

Lilly's eyes widened and she made a dead run down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of one of the doors. I ran up to her as she tried to open the door as the handle shook crazily. She took my staff and hit the door with the ends of it, trying to break a hole into the door. I could hear yelling on the other side and I was starting to panic. The yelling was starting to die out. Are they dead!?

Lilly threw my staff to the side after trying a few times to break a hole in the door. She slid her katana out of her sleeve and stuck it into the door, trying to use it as a crowbar. She pulled and I assisted her, but it was no use, the door wouldn't budge.

"Damn it," I heard Lilly curse, sounding a little panicked too. Making sure it wasn't bent, she slid her katana back into her sleeve, then knocked loudly on the door.

"Hey! Are you guys-" she was interrupted when the door finally opened, releasing a huge wave of water and the Ninja along with it. I surfaced after being underwater for less than 3 seconds. I turned to see that the Ninja were alright, though they looked a little shaken, especially Kai. Most likely because of the fact that the water was shoulder-deep, or it was for me at least.

Lilly turned and grabbed Kai by the shoulders. "What the heck were you guys doing!? You had me worried!" Okay, that was new. Never before had she admitted she was worried in some way, or I think.

"We almost died," Kai said, paying more attention to the water that surrounded him.

"And if you guys died I would have killed you all!" Lilly replied. Everyone looked at her, bewildered.

"Um, how could you kill us if we were already dead?" Jay asked.

Lilly looked at him. "You get what I mean."

"First the haunting, then the water, what's next!?" asked Cole, frightened. There had to be some weird meaning to this all, or Sensei Yang really is trying to murder us. It was then we could hear something wading through that water, stopping Jay from saying whatever he was about to say. What looked like a clown turned a corner and Lilly immediately yelled "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

"Hey kids! Who's ready for a fun time?" the clown said in a stereotypical clown voice.

"What the hell?" Cole said, confused by the presence of the clown.

"I AM NOT READY FOR A FUN TIME," Zane said, backing away. Then I'm here wondering how the clown got in here in the first place!

"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nooooope," Lilly said, backing behind Kai.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked clowns," Kai said. Lilly shook her head.

"No. Clowns are freakin' terrifying. The only kinds of clowns I like are you doofuses," Lilly replied.

"Is that a compliment?" I asked.

"Wait guys, I think Sensei Yang is testing us!" Jay said suddenly, "Cole's fear is ghost, Kai's fear is water, and I'm guessing Lilly's fear is clowns. All of those have shown up so far."

I had a feeling Jay was right, but it didn't explain the chanting I heard earlier. I decided not to bring it up, passing it off as "I was just hearing things."

"So, you're saying Sensei Yang is testing me by having this clown stand here and stare at us?" Lilly asked, a little confused. Jay nodded.

"As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student," Kai repeated Sensei Yang's phrase, rubbing his chin. Then, it was as if a lightbulb went off above his head. "That's it! He's making us face our fears!" he said, figuring it out.

"Kinda like what we had to do with True Potential, right?" I asked. Zane shook his head.

"NO, THAT WAS EMOTIONAL OBSTACLES, KARMA," he corrected me. Well, I was close, right?

Noticing that the clown was gone, Lilly stepped out from behind Kai, acting as if she weren't just hiding behind someone over a clown.

"So, I just faced my fear then?" Lilly said, looking a little triumphant.

"More like you cowered behind me the whole time," Kai said. He was correct. Lilly's cheeks became red.

"Shut up," she said, crossing her arms and looking away, embarrassed.

After a quick pep talk and an agreement to stick together for the rest of the night, we tied ourselves together with a rope that was just so conveniently lying around. I swear to god, we must be in a movie or something. Only in movies and TV shows would something like that happen. Or, luck could actually be on our side for once. Maybe.

"Alright, no matter what happens, no running away. We're all in this together," Cole reminded us. I have no idea why, but then an old tune popped into my head. It went something like " _We're allll in this together_!" and went on to some other lyrics. I can't remember the name of the song, but I remember hearing it on the TV when I was ten. Huh. Weird.

"Just so we don't get any surprises, what are the rest of you afraid of?" Kai questioned. I'm sure I've already faced my fear in the other room. Spiders.

"Spiders, aka the spawns of Satan," I answered cheerfully.

"I THINK I KNOW WHAT I'M AFRAID OF!" Zane said in a panic. We turned to see what he was looking at and my heart almost stopped right then and there when my eyes fell on him. Morro. He stood there, not saying anything smart or villain-like, like he had said the last time.

"Morro!" I yelled in unison with Cole and Jay. I darted after him, slipping out of the rope, just as Cole was about to say something. I didn't have time for it. If I could stop Morro now, we could save Lloyd even earlier than expected! Then we could totally save Ninjago!

I noticed then that Morro was running away from me. I followed him, dodging knocked over things in the hallway. I could have sworn I heard one of my friends yelling my name, but I didn't care. There was no time. I decided I would chase Morro, and end his reign of terror right here and now.

Though...I kinda hope Lloyd keeps that new voice of his...and I kinda hope you pretended to not have read that right now to spare me the embarrassment. But really, is it bad to like a bad guy's voice? Is it bad I want my best friend to keep the bad guy's voice? Oh god, I'm a horrible person, aren't I? Eh...I should get back to the story...

I stopped when he ran up the stairs to the attic, mostly because someone grabbed me by my scarf. I turned to see Lilly standing there, looking quite pissed. Uh oh.

"What the heck were you thinking!? Running off like that!? You could die in here if you aren't careful!" she yelled, obviously worried. I felt tears well up in my eyes. If there's one thing I don't like, it's when people yell at me. It hurts even worse when it's a friend that does it.

I heard Lilly sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm frightened and worried enough being in here. I'm worried that we won't make it out in time, and obviously, that's affecting my reactions to things. I apologize for yelling." I accepted her apology, understanding how she felt. I get how certain situations affect someone's reactions and moods to things. I'm the same way.

"Morro went into the attic right?" Cole asked. I nodded. He ran into the attic and we all followed. I reattached myself to the rope, now feeling upset that I went against what Cole said, "No matter what happens, we stay together."

When we entered, we noticed he just stood there in the corner, doing nothing. What's all this about?

"Hey! Wind-Brain! You gonna do something!? You're usually really talkative!" Lilly shouted, trying to get the ghost's attention. Suddenly, Morro turned, becoming the ghost of Sensei Yang.

"As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student. You have passed the test," the ghostly Sensei said. He passed the scroll to Cole, saying something I couldn't hear. Suddenly ghosts surrounded the Sensei, looking to be his students.

"Now you all will join my students. A new dawn is approaching us. Get out before the clock's last chime if you can!" he said. My eyes widened. Crap! All of us flew down the attic stairs and ran for the door as fast as our legs could carry us. I could see the door ahead and I felt hope and relief rising inside me. We're almost there! We sprinted out the door, feeling relieved that we made it out alive and unscathed.

"Wait, where's Cole!?" Jay asked, sounding worried. Wait, Cole didn't come out with us!? Then...

I heard footsteps, and when I saw him, I gasped in unison with the others. Cole was translucent, and his skin was now a ghastly green. He made a gasp, then, instead of water like tears are made from, ectoplasm streamed from his eyes. "I'm...a ghost."

I felt sorry for him, terribly sorry for him. He's become the thing he feared. Though, there was one thing that scared me the most out of this: Since Cole is now a ghost, does that mean he's...dead? Is there a way a turn him back? Then, a horrifying thought came to mind:

Cole really is dead now, and there's no way we can bring him back.


	10. Chapter 10

The ride to the Bounty was silent, as we all were still taking in what just happened. Cole's a ghost now, but we got the scroll of Airjitsu!...but Cole's a ghost. He can't touch anything, eat anything, or even dare to get near water. I had an assumption that the eating part would be very hard on him, as he tended to eat a lot. Sometimes even binge eat. Now, he can't do that. The food would just phase right through him. I felt really sorry for him. How would he be able to explain this to his parents? How would he be able to enjoy his favorite food, cake? What worried me even more, how long will he last? Ghosts can't always be around forever, and I fear we may have a fatal slip up with water some day and unintentionally kill Cole. I hoped what I feared would never happen, though, hopes can't always save someone.

When we arrived at the Bounty, Nya immediately ran up to us, greeting us all, then running up to Lilly.

"You're my sister, aren't you!?" Nya asked, her eyes wide. Lilly looked utterly confused.

"Um, what?" she asked, giving a I-think-this-girl-is-high look.

"There's no way there can be two masters of water without them being related!" Nya said, not knowing Lilly wasn't really the master of water.

"Woah, you're the master of water Nya? Sweet!" Kai said from behind everyone, giving the smile of a proud older brother.

"I'm guessing you haven't told Nya the thing yet," I said.

"What thing?" Nya asked, now the confused one. Lilly sighed and went through the story again of how she gained her powers through messing with the Elemental Forge of Ice. Nya looked quite surprised about it.

"No wonder you said you couldn't use your powers after your hand was broken," she said. Lilly nodded.

"I honestly think it's great you're the master of water, Nya. You're going to be a huge help in fighting Morro and his ghost army, but I do ask one thing. Please be careful around Cole," she advised. Cole walk-floated into view, his depressed look lingering on his face. Nya gasped out of shock.

"Cole...you're..." her voice trailed off.

"Yeah I know. You don't need to remind me," Cole said quietly, walking past her towards his room.

"I feel sorry for him," I said. It's even worse because we don't know how to turn him back.

"Same. And I thought the only guy I'd ever feel sorry for is that one guy whose girlfriend turned into the moon," Jay said.

"That sounds rough," Kai commented. I swear I've heard of this somewhere before.

After handing the scroll of Airjitzu over to Sensei Wu, he asked me to retrieve Ronin. Freaking. Ronin. Of all people! Why is he even here in the first place!?

"He's most likely napping in the controls room," Sensei Wu informed me as I went to go find the blasted pirate. I stormed down the hallway and opened the door to the controls room to find Ronin slouching and snoring in one of the chairs.

"Hey! Wake up!" I shouted. It wasn't very effective, as he continued to snore. Then, an idea popped into my head. I walked to Lilly and I's room. Our stuffs gotta be in here, unless they left it at Steep Wisdom.

Fortunately, I found the thing I was looking for on one of the tables. The one, the only, airhorn. Oh, it's been so long since I've used this baby. Last time I used it, Lilly fell off her bed and faceplanted on the floor. Of course, that was four months ago. Now, maybe I can get Ronin to faceplant!

I snuck back quietly to the control room. I first made sure Ronin was still asleep, then I held out the airhorn and pressed the button. The beautiful sound erupted from the horn, startling Ronin and waking him up.

"The jig is up! The news is out! They finally found me!" Ronin said quickly in reaction to being woken up so suddenly. What does he mean by 'they finally found me'?

Ronin turned and noticed me at the door. "What the hell did you wake me up for, pipsqueak?" he asked, a little peeved.

"Sensei Wu asked me to retrieve you for something," I said. Then, I walked over and stuck the airhorn by his ear and pressed the button, the _BRRRRRRRRRRNNN_! erupting from the horn. "And I'm no pipsqueak."

Ronin covered his ears. "Gah! I've already lost my eye and my shop, I don't need to lose my hearing too!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have called me pipsqueak, old creep," I said.

Ronin muttered under his breath and followed me out to the deck, where my friends and Sensei Wu stood. The only person missing was Cole.

We immediately started learning Airjitsu then, with Ronin watching us from the goal, a red flag flying above. I watched Kai and Jay try Airjitsu, which the tornado for it looked similar to spinjitsu, it was just wider and there was a sphere around the person using Airjistu. It's probably a shield or something. I didn't really expect myself did get Airjitsu down in a flash. I mean, it was only a year ago that I just learned spinjitsu. Everyone else here (minus Ronin) has most likely known spinjitsu for more than three years and most likely have a mastery of it, unlike me. Does spinjitsu mastery affect how you do Airjitsu?

When the time came for me to try, I found that the way to do it was easy. It was just a few motions, no spinning. It was almost like a dance to be honest. It was a piece of cake. I did the motions and then I was in the sphere inside the tornado. I flew upwards towards my goal, the red flag. Just when I thought I could reach it, the sphere disappeared, dropping me onto the pad on the ground.

"Ooh. Just a few inches short, pipsqueak," Ronin commented. I stood up immediately, annoyed.

"I said don't call me that!" I shouted. I could hear him laughing up there. Ugh, what's so funny about me being short!? And why does this guy feel the need to call me that!? Is he asking to get kicked in the face!?

After a bit of practicing, we all went off to do our own thing. Nya went off to see if Cole was doing alright, and Lilly & I just went to the room that was assigned to us. I flopped down on a cushion, feeling exhausted and anticipating an oncoming headache. Having not slept for about 48 hours straight, I started to drift off to sleep, when the sound of Lilly rummaging through something caused me to wake up. I sat up to look and noticed she was holding something.

In her hands was a small syringe, filled with liquid that emitted a dim glow. She started to unwrap her broken hand then, making sure to take the bandages off with care.

"What are you doing?" I asked. She looked up from her hand.

"If I fix the shard now it will be easier. If I fix it later it will be harder," Lilly said, unwrapping the last bandage off her hand.

"So, what's in the syringe?" I asked.

"The stuff I made that gives me my powers. Aka, a modified and liquefied Elemental Forge of Ice," Lilly replied, sticking the needle into the scar on her hand without hesitation. Geez, if I had a needle in my hand I'd be screaming, but she just sticks herself without hesitation and sits there like it's nothing! She injected the forge into her hand, the glowing blue liquid disappearing into the needle and into her hand. She took the needle out of her hand and sat back.

"That's it?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Nope. It comes with a crap ton of pain that lasts for about an hour too. The lady who taught me how to do this compared the worst pain of this to labor pain. Though, the worst pain I've gotten so far was something similar to the feeling of your hand getting broken five times at once," she explained, wincing in the middle of her sentence. I was surprised when she mentioned the lady. Are there other people like Lilly?

"Wait, lady? You didn't teach yourself how to do this? Does that mean there are other people like you?" I inquired.

"I...guess? I have no idea. I never saw the lady again after she told me about it," Lilly said, wincing again from pain, "Last I remember, she said she wanted to gain the powers of lava just by using the forges for fire and earth. Though, I think you have to have metal in the equation to get lava. I'm not sure. I only have a middle school level education."

I heard a small gasp, then someone say "Finally! Something I'm better at than you!"

I sat up to see Kai at the door, smirking like an idiot.

"Yeah, so!? I can still kick your ass in a sparring match!" Lilly stood up immediately, wincing a bit from the pain in her hand.

"But I can solve math problems like x/3 + 5 = 36," Kai said, triumphantly. Lilly blinked, not understanding a word he said.

"Um, what?" she asked, looking to me for help.

"Ha! See!?" Kai pointed. Lilly stomped up to him, obviously a little ticked.

"You know, I'd like to have a round two of that swordfight we had last year," Lilly glared at him.

"Bring it on," Kai smirked. It was then, their faces were close enough that one of the spikes in Kai's hair poked Lilly in the eye, causing her to stumble backward and curse.

"What the heck!? Your stupid hair stabbed my eye!" she said.

"My hair's not stupid, it's awesome, and it poking you in the eye was a defense mechanism," Kai smiled.

"So you admit to your hair being an actual porcupine?" Lilly snickered.

"How the heck would I be able to keep a porcupine on my head?" Kai asked. Lilly shrugged.

"Magic," she said simply, rubbing her eye.

"Well, anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys Misako's going to be showing us a presentation on our next destination soon, so, whenever you guys are ready go ahead and head over to the dining room," Kai informed us. So, that's why he was at the door.

"You still owe me a swordfight, _Porcupine_ ," Lilly said.

"Expect one in the future," Kai smiled and winked, before disappearing behind the door. Lilly sat on the floor for a minute, before groaning, lying back, and covering her face with her arms.

"Still convinced that's how you two flirt with each other, and I have to say, it's a pretty odd way to do that," I said. Lilly stayed silent, not protesting or giving me the "I don't like him!" excuse. "Seriously though, what's the deal between you two?"

Lilly sighed. "To put it simply, I don't know if he really does like me or not."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Listen, you don't need to hide it from me. Cole already told me what had been going on between him and Skylor, that waitress girl. And really, if it's still a thing, I don't want to get between them. I don't want to be that kind of person," Lilly said, a sadder tone in her voice. I was pretty shocked to hear Cole had told her already. I expected him to say something about it after this whole ordeal with Morro, but instead he told her earlier.

"Cole told me they stopped being a thing two months ago," I said, "And besides, didn't you two idiots kiss at the train station last year?"

"But you don't know if that's true or not. And really, I doubt what happened at the train station even matters to him," Lilly said. She sounded genuinely hurt, which made me feel really sorry for her. I didn't know what to say then, which made me feel even worse. What do I do!? If I don't say anything, she's going to think I don't care! But if I say the wrong thing she's going to be even more upset!

"I...I don't get what it is," Lilly said, her voice quivering, "Is it the fact that my powers aren't natural? Is it because I'm dumb and not as smart as everyone else? Is it because I don't know how to act!? Is it because she's beautiful and most likely a much better person than I'll ever be? Is it just because I'm not good enough? Is that it?"

I saw tears spilling from her eyes as she laid there. "I just...I don't know what to do anymore," she sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Maybe you should talk to him at some point, because it sounds like you two need to clear some things up," I said. It's what Luo always told her friends to do when they had issues with other friends/boyfriends/girlfriends. It seemed to help her friends a lot, but would it help Lilly's situation?

"I don't even know if I can do that. We're so busy with Morro we don't usually have time like this to slow down," Lilly said, still wiping tears from her eyes, "Besides, I don't think it's Kai's fault for this."

"Then, who's fault do you think it is?" I asked. Lilly was silent for a moment, then she slowly pointed at herself. Wait...why does she think this all is her fault? She hasn't done anything wrong!

"It's all because I act like my mom, and the only way I know how to act is how I saw my mother act around her friends, my father, and my family...when they were still around," Lilly said, looking at the floor, "I was just hoping that you could possibly teach me how to act the way you do. Teach me how you make friends so easily, and please, just teach me how to be kind and positive like you are."

"Lilly, you don't need to act like me. That'd just be...wrong. Though, you do need work on how you communicate your feelings, please don't act the way I do. Your personality is fine the way it is right now," I said. My words were true. Everyone has a unique personality shaped by their interests, mood, and so many other things. Why try to make it like someone else's when the one you have now is just fine? Sure, you may need tiny fixes, but your personality is supposed to show who you are.

I heard Lilly sigh. She got up and picked up the roll of bandages.

"Everyone's probably waiting for us in the dining room. We should get going," she said quietly. She walked out the door, leaving me in the room. I felt upset that I could only think of one way to help her, and I started to doubt anything I said helped her at all. If only I was as huge a help as I always make myself out to be, huh?

I got up and walked out of the room. I was starting to feel stressed. I wanted to save Lloyd and stop Morro, but at the same time I wanted to resolve the issue between Lilly and Kai, but I also wanted to find a way to make Cole human again. There were so many things I wanted to do, but now its getting to the point where I don't even know what to do. I want to help everyone. I want to save everyone, but there's only so much I can do. I can only do things one at a time. I felt stressed because, I can't resolve all their issues right now. I always thought I could resolve issues in a snap, and I'd be relieved when I'd see my friends smile afterwords, but now, I won't see some of my friends smile, and it hurts me. I just want to see them happy, and to be honest, I'd rather they be happy instead of me. I want them all to live great and happy lives, lives better than mine. They've all had really rough times in the past unlike me, so why not? I want them to live better lives than me. They deserve it.

If only I knew how to cure everyone of sadness.


	11. Chapter 11

I walked to the other side of the deck, thinking about what just happened. It just wouldn't get off my mind. I didn't know how to help Lilly at all, since I really don't have any knowledge on relationships at all. All I can manage to say is "Talk it out". That's it. It made me feel horrible that I couldn't think of any other ways to help her. It only I could magically make people happy. I wouldn't have this much stress then.

Suddenly, I heard someone talking on the other side of the deck.

" _Míngtiān xiá yû,_ " I heard someone say. I assumed they were talking to themselves, considering the statement was similar to how you'd say "Its going to rain" in English. They probably didn't know they weren't the only ones on the deck. I turned in the voice's direction to see Kai watching dark clouds in the distance. I wanted to facepalm. How did I not know it was Kai!? There's only one person (other than me) on this team who can speak Chinese.

"Hopefully it doesn't turn into a storm," I commented. Kai turned, a little surprised to see me there.

"Yeah," he said, turning his attention back to the clouds in the distance. I walked over to him, taking a look at the clouds as well. They weren't dark enough to be storm clouds, but could very well be rain clouds. It was then, though, that I decided to question him. Just to get his side of the ordeal.

"So, um, how was your time at the Tournament of Elements?" I asked.

"It was pretty good I guess, other than Chen trying to steal our powers. I met some cool people," Kai replied.

"Like?" I asked, trying not to come off as nosy.

"Well, there was this girl named Toxikita who's the master of toxins. Ash, who is, of course, master of smoke. There was this guy named Levi who was master of music, and was teamed with the master of sound. And lastly, there was this girl. Her name was Skylor, and she was master of amber. She was pretty cool," Kai said. When he mentioned Skylor, he looked off into the distance admiringly, as if she were standing there. Well, first thing I could tell, he still admired Skylor.

"I'm guessing she was really awesome, huh?" I asked. Kai nodded. Then, I started to feel stressed. How do I carry on with this conversation? How do I get Kai's side of things out of this? What do I say!? What do I ask!?

I sighed. "Okay, I should just get to the point."

Kai gave a look of confusion and curiosity then. "Hm?"

"Listen, Lilly's been really upset over you. You see, she found out about you and Skylor, and now she believes you thought nothing about her feelings and I have no idea how to make her happy!" I said truthfully.

"Let me guess, she has some kind of jealousy thing with Skylor?" Kai asked. I slammed my fist on the railing out of frustration.

"No you idiot! She thinks there's something wrong with herself! She thinks there's something wrong with herself because she doesn't look or act like me, Skylor, Nya, or really any other girl!" I shouted. I didn't mean to yell, it was just that I got so frustrated and angry when he assumed Lilly was jealous I let it all out.

"I..." Kai started, but I didn't let him finish. I still had much more to say.

"You know, she said you two kissed at the train station, and I would have assumed you two communicated your feelings then."

"I didn't get to say anything. She ran off before I could say a word," Kai said. I sighed. As expected. She was too embarrassed to stick around.

"Well, anyway, I would have thought you would have understood what she was feeling, and would have at least talked to her when you had got the chance," I said, "And if you didn't feel the same way, you should have at least told her instead of leaving her hanging for a year, making her think something was actually going to happen."

Kai was silent then. Not a word came out of his mouth for a few minutes. Then, he sighed.

"I get it, I'm an idiot, I do stupid things, I know," he said, putting his hands up, "I knew how Lilly was feeling a year ago, and I wanted to reply to her, but my memory failed me. I feel like a complete ass for forgetting now. And even more of an ass for moving on to a different person, not to mention someone who I had known for only five days."

"Sometimes I just don't think with my head Karma, and I really want to fix that," Kai admitted. He looked a little down.

"Then, please, talk to her whenever you can. She seemed pretty hurt by it and I think silence would just make it worse," I requested. Kai nodded.

"Alright. I don't know how much time I have before Misako's presentation though..." he said.

"Judging by how long it took her to set up the projector last time, I say you have a good bit of time," I calculated. Last time, it took Misako a full hour to set up a projector. Kai has quite enough time, in my opinion that is.

"And, don't even ask me where Lilly is. I have no idea," I added.

"Eh. No worries. It's easy to find her. As of right now there's only one person on this ship with bright blonde hair," Kai said before walking off. I turned and walked to the dining room, going to check if Misako had everything set up yet.

When I entered the dining room, I found Misako trying to untangle a wire attached to the projector. Her eyebrows were knotted in confusion, and determination to untangle the knot.

"Um, Misako? Do you need help?" I asked. Misako looked up the tangled wires, then smiled.

"Yes please. I've been trying to untangle this for a long time. It's main reason I can't get the projector started," she nodded. I knelt down and began to untangle the wire.

"So, are you as determined as the others to get Lloyd back?" Misako asked as I started to untangle the last few tiny knots.

"I guess you could say that. I just want to save him because I can't help but imagine Morro is torturing him in some way. Not to mention, I doubt Morro has given his body any rest, so Morro is possibly using up every ounce of energy in the poor kid's body," I said, "Besides, he's my best friend and my teammate, why wouldn't I be determined to save him?"

"Ah, your reason is almost like Kai's," Misako said, "Except he sees Lloyd as his little brother." I could see it. Kai and Lloyd did hang around each other a lot. Almost like how Luo and I did...

"What about you, Misako? You're his mother, and I'd think you'd be pretty upset over all of this," I asked as I untangled the last knot and stood up.

"I am upset, but I try to think of it like the time Lloyd stayed at Darkly's. He's just at school and will return soon," Misako answered, getting up. I remember Jay telling me Darkly's was a boarding school Lloyd went to before. Evidently, it was at first a school for children who chose to become bad, but now it's for good children. Don't even ask me why there was a school that taught children how to be evil. That's a problem with Ninjago and it's school system.

"I guess that's a pretty good way to think of it," I said, looking at the projector. "Oh, um, by the way, I have a question."

"What is it?" Misako asked as she placed the slides into the projector.

"Okay, so, the First Spinjitsu Master is Lloyd's grandfather, right?" I asked. Misako nodded. "But he lived more than 100 years ago. Wouldn't that make Sensei Wu and Sensei Garmadon about 150 or 200 years old? And you too?"

"Ah, you're one of the first people to notice," Misako said, "The Garmadon family history is a little complicated...and includes a lot of magic..."

Misako continued into detail, "First, Ninjago was discovered and created 300 years by Lloyd's grandfather. He brought people from separate and overpopulated islands to Ninjago to begin a settlement. Soon, some more people came to Ninjago and it started fill up. About 200 years ago, Lloyd's grandfather met his grandmother, they got married, and then Wu and Garmadon were born. Soon after, people reported their children having strange elemental powers. Lloyd's grandfather took the children in and trained them alongside Wu and Garmadon, who didn't have powers. A couple years after Lloyd's grandfather started teaching the first elemental masters, Garmadon was bit by the Great Devourer, inserting evil into his veins, and forever changing his life."

"The full evil didn't kick in until Garmadon was in his late teens and he left Wu and his father. Garmadon was by himself for a while, for about 150 years. Fifty years ago, he drank the opposite of the tea that made Lloyd older and joined forces with Chen and your uncle, and Wu met Morro. I met both him and Wu around that time as well, having no idea how old they actually were. They claimed to be as old as I was around that time, in their forties. Of course, I didn't find out until after I married Garmadon that he was actually over a hundred years old."

"Thirty years ago, the Serpentine Wars began and the third generation of elemental masters joined the war. Your mother was in the war, as well as Kai's parents, Cole's mother, and Jay's uncle. I remember your mother, Lin, being the youngest of them all, only 18 years old. She was a great fighter, just like you."

So, my mother joined that war at the age I am now, eighteen. It felt so weird, as if history was about to repeat itself. My mother was in the Serpentine War, and I'm basically in a war against ghosts. Maybe history really is repeating itself.

"Then, fourteen years ago, Lloyd was born, and at the same time, Garmadon was banished to the Underworld. My joy in having Lloyd was short lived due to my husband falling into the Underworld. Who was my child supposed to look up to as a father figure? So, I told him stories about his father, from the bite of the Great Devourer to the Serpentine Wars. Lloyd was fascinated, and yearned to be just like his father. So, when money began to get tight and I couldn't tell if I could support Lloyd anymore, I sent him to Darkly's at 7 years old. The tuition didn't cost that much and it was open year round, so it gave me time to try and earn money so I could be able to support Lloyd and myself again."

"I never worked up enough money, and by the time I met Lloyd again three years ago, I was still in slight poverty. Lloyd was disappointed when he saw me again, asking me why I left him at Darkly's all these years and I honestly felt guilty. I felt guilty for not being able to earn enough money to support my child and myself. And now, I stand here, worrying if Lloyd will even return alive."

I was surprised by the story, and even felt sorry for Misako. I could relate. Poverty was the reason I didn't get to finish high school. I had to drop out at sixteen because my parents couldn't afford tuition anymore. I'm jealous of the nearby countries where you don't have to pay tuition until you're in high school. Though, there was one thing that wasn't right about Misako's story...

"Wait, women aren't able to have children after fifty, so how did you..." I questioned.

"Ah, Garmadon and I had a tea that made us younger, and that tea also sets our organs back to when we were younger so..." Misako was about to say more when I said "Yeah yeah, you don't need to give me the scarring flashbacks of seventh grade health class."

"Hence Lloyd came into existence, and the tea wore off after he was born," Misako continued, "So, in actuality, I am 95 years old."

I whistled. "Geez, no offense but you're really old."

"But Wu and Garmadon are older. Wu is 196 years old and Garmadon was 200. I'm surprised the world record people haven't come to interview them yet," Misako added. Though, there was another thing I was wondering...

"How did Sensei Wu and Sensei Garmadon live so long? A normal person would die after age 102," I asked.

"The tea. They drink it to go back a few years to live longer. Wu will have to pass at some point, but he may be waiting until my son becomes a sensei, like I am," Misako answered, "I want to live through it, so when I see Garmadon again in the afterlife I can tell him all about the great things his son has done."

So Misako uses the tea too. I could support her decision though. I'd love to see my offspring accomplish something great before I die, then tell Luo about it in the afterlife.

I heard the projector flicker on and the picture of a map appear on the wall.

"Oh, finally," Misako sighed in relief, "Well, I better call in the others and tell them it finally works."

I watched Misako walk out. I sat down in one of the chairs and studied the map projected on the wall. It looks like we're traveling to a mountain next. As for why, I can't tell. There's some kind of swirly, typhoon cloud type thing drawn above the mountain. Is there something significant about the storm? And what is this place we're going to? What significance does it have to saving Lloyd and stopping Morro? All I could do is wait for answers. And little did I know, these answers would lead us into even more trouble, and even reveal the truth.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Updates are going to be much slower due to school and personal issues. Please understand.**_

I sat through Misako's slideshow with my comrades, paying attention to everything that appeared on the presentation. From what I heard and could conclude, we're going after a sword now, specifically the Sword of Sanctuary. It's in some place called the Cloud Kingdom, which was completely new to me. There's a kingdom in Ninjago!? Does that mean Ninjago is actually ruled by a monarchy?

Evidently, this kingdom lies inside a storm that passes through Ninjago known as "The Blindman's Eye". I've heard of The Blindman's Eye before. A pilot passing through the city stopped at my family's shop and chatted about his encounter with the storm on one of his flights with my father. The Blindman's Eye passes through the Wailing Alps, a mountainous part of southern Ninjago, where the climate is quite cold. Looks like we're gonna have to bundle up for this one. To be honest, we wouldn't have to bundle up if Kai still had his powers. He's a like a walking furnace. I'm afraid if people even touch him sometimes their hands will get burnt.

"So, this 'Sword of Sanctuary' we're after, what makes it so special?" Cole questioned. He was wondering the same thing I was, though, I thought it was just some kind of weapon we could use as an alternative to water, since it's uncertain if Lilly can use her powers at the moment, and because Nya hasn't gained a full grasp of her powers yet.

"It's special because reflected within it's blade, you can see your opponent's next moves," Misako answered. I had to admit, that sounded really cool, and oddly familiar. I remember watching a TV show where twelve people owned something like that, except they were cellphones instead of swords.

Misako continued on how we were not only getting this sword for the Tomb of the First Spinjitsu Master, but to also save Lloyd. She didn't have to remind me. My goal was already set that I assist in stopping Morro and saving Lloyd, and I would not rest until Lloyd was safe and Morro was defeated. Though, I did kind of slack off on that goal earlier...

The six of us went onto the deck to look for the Wailing Alps. I didn't think they would be that difficult to find. They are huge mountains after all. I started to shiver as we approached the Alps. I rubbed my hands together, trying to keep myself warm. I looked over at the others to see they were shivering as well, everyone except Zane and Lilly at least.

"Wait, aren't you cold, Lilly?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"It doesn't really affect me. I grew up in this kind of climate anyway," she answered. I noticed tiny icicles forming on her broken hand, which rested over the railing.

"I think your powers are back. There's icicles forming on your hand," I said. Lilly looked down at her hand, then shook her head.

"As long as this hand is broken, I can't use them too well. The most I could probably do is fill a one inch cup with water," she explained, "Though, the icicles are pretty cool."

I could agree. Just imagine having icicles form on your hand in the cold, free of frostbite. It would indeed be pretty cool.

"Aye. That happens to me from time to time," Zane commented in his new pirate dialect. Jay still had not fully fixed his voice, and now Zane was stuck talking like a pirate.

"Hey guys! We need you down below!" Nya called, diverting our attention from the Alps and the cold to what was below. We followed her to the bottom deck find mechs, and hoods that could keep us warm. There were only mechs for the Ninja though. I didn't spot any for Lilly and I's use. Evidently we were going to use them to get up the mountain, but what are Lilly and I supposed to do? There's no way I'm staying on the Bounty!

As Nya handed out snow jackets for each of us to use, I asked her, "What are Lilly and I supposed to do? There's no mechs for us. Please don't tell me we have to stay here."

Nya shook her head. "No, you two are going. I'm the one who has to stick back. You guys probably have to hang onto the guys' mechs or something."

I felt a pang of guilt when I saw Nya's slightly upset expression. She really wanted to go with us. I wish she could, but Sensei insisted she stay back. Though, I have a feeling she'll get to fight soon. I doubted that Sensei Wu would hold her back from fighting forever. Considering she's now the Water Ninja, she has to fight at some point.

I pulled on my snow jacket, the chill of the outside air now replaced with the warmth of the fur inside the hood. I felt as if I were being hugged by a humongous, fluffy bear. I started to wonder then who made these.

The ninja climbed into their mechs, starting up the machinery that let the mechs move.

"Wait, what about you two?" Jay asked. I shrugged.

"We don't have anything, and I don't know if we can hang onto the mechs," I said. It was going to be hard to figure out how Lilly and I could tag along if we were vehicle-less.

"I can hang back if I have to," Lilly offered, showing no emotion toward what she just said. It was hard to read if she was just saying that so the group wouldn't be too large going up the mountain, or if she wasn't going for some kind of other reason. Maybe she wanted to hang back so Nya wouldn't feel so quite alone?

"Wait, wait. We can figure something out," Kai said, climbing out of his mech and observing the others. He looked at their mechs, then climbed back into his.

"You guys can really hang onto any of these," Kai said. I walked over to Cole's mech and climbed onto the shoulder part of it. When I looked over at Cole, I noticed he still looked depressed, most likely over becoming a ghost. I still felt really bad for him.

Suddenly, Cole said "I dunno guys. You guys had time to practice. Maybe I should sit this one out."

"Cole no! We need you on this mission!" Jay protested.

"Yeah, remember when you said a team had to stick together? That means you can't back out either," Lilly added, sitting atop Kai's mech. Cole's frown became a slight smile. A look of motivation replaced the look of depression.

"Alright," Cole said, a look of determination in his eyes. He signaled Ronin to open the hangar door, and the doors beneath us opened, revealing a mountain below. It was going to be a long drop.

"Anyone else getting a tingling feeling!?" Jay asked everyone excitedly. He was really pumped.

"Yeah, frostbite," Kai said as we all jumped from the Bounty. I held onto the shoulder part of Cole's mech with all my might, hoping I wouldn't fall off. I didn't feel like falling to my death today. Nope. Save that for a time when everyone is safe.

The winter air bit at my face as we fell through the air. The cold numbed my nose already and the frigid air was cutting through my gloves. Well great, I probably won't be able to feel my hands once we reach the ground.

The mechs landed in the snow, though, Cole's fell right over.

"You alright?" Cole asked. I nodded, giving a thumbs up.

"If only this thing had a heater though," I sighed, seeing my breath appear as a small transparent cloud before it disappeared completely.

"Yeah, if only. We were limited on time though, so unfortunately Jay couldn't add a heater when fixing this thing up," Cole said, bring the mech back up into standing position. I started to wonder if he could actually feel the cold as a ghost. Would Morro and his army be freezing their butts off when they reached this place? I hoped so. I hoped they would freeze in place so it wouldn't be so hard to save Lloyd.

I pulled my scarf over my nose, protecting most of my face from the cold. The snow had chilled me to the bone, and my right hand was nearly numb. I zoned out of whatever conversation my friends were having and plunged into thought. My thoughts were mainly focused on a plot to get rid of Morro. All we needed was a crap ton of water, right? All we had to do was get a huge tanker of ocean water (or water of any kind) and dump it on Morro. Bam! This whole thing would be over!

Drowsiness then started to hit me. Being up for 48 hours straight wasn't a good thing, and I regretted not taking the chance to take a nap at the Bounty. Dizziness hit me too, making me feel like I was spinning faster than I do for spinjitsu. I took my scarf off and tied it around my legs and around the shoulder panel on Cole's mech. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I took a small nap, right? I sat back and drifted off, the last thing I remember hearing was Jay talking about the Sword of Sanctuary.

I was ten, and Luo was nineteen. We sat in the field nearby our grandmother's house, picking at the long grasses that danced in the wind and watching butterflies flutter about. Luo was weaving the grasses into a crown, smiling.

"Luo, how do you know when you love someone?" I asked, watching her weave the crown. Back then, I was so open to her. I could tell her literally everything.

"What do you mean?" Luo questioned, looking up from the woven crown of grass.

"I have a crush on this boy in my class," I admitted, "And when I told my best friend she asked me how I knew I liked him or loved him. I didn't know how to answer. I just thought you'd know because you're an adult."

Luo set the grass crown aside. "Oh, Seiko." she said, "If you really do want to know..."

"You know you love someone when you can't stand the thought of them being hurt in any way. You know you love someone when every time they enter a room your heartbeat speeds up and you suddenly feel much happier. It's when you care for someone so much you think about them a lot, maybe even in your dreams."

"It doesn't always just have to be for the person you want to marry, it can be your friends, too," Luo smiled, "You can love your friends, and your family. Not in a romantic way of course. As I feel the same way about you, Seiko. I doubt I'd ever stand the thought of your being hurt in any way."

Both my sister and I smiled. I felt the same way about her. I couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt or being unhappy in any way, and I cared for my sister so much. Little did I know, though, that in seven years I would experience the thing I couldn't stand thinking about, and I would lose her forever.

I was startled awake by what sounded like deep-voiced screeching. I covered my ears, cringing at how loud the screeching was. I felt as if I was about to go deaf at any moment. I then noticed all the mechs were sliding down the slope of the mountain. I hung into the shoulder plate of the mech, hoping I wasn't going to fall off.

I uncovered my ears when I was sure the screaming stopped. I wrapped my scarf back around the lower half of my face, my nose and lips now numb from the cold.

"Oh hey, looks like Sleeping Beauty's up," I heard Lilly comment when the mechs stopped sliding, "Quite the sound on the alarm clock, huh?"

The mechs started back up the mountain again, but we were stopped when I heard a low rumbling approaching us. The rumbling was followed by a screech. I saw Zane's eyes widen.

"Is that?" Cole started to ask, before being interrupted by Jay yelling "Avalanche!"

The avalanche sped down the slope after us. The mechs turned and began to run down the slope, but the avalanche was fast approaching.

 _So this is how I'm going out_ , I thought, bein _g crushed by an avalanche just after slacking off on my goal._ I braced for impact, the snow engulfing us. We were thrown over a cliff and my heart stopped. The drop is too far down. We were going to die.


	13. Chapter 13

Everything happened in slow motion. First, the mechs were suspended in air, then, next thing we know, we all are holding onto each other and some kind of snow monster thing is keeping us from falling. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were saved by Frosty the Snowman on steroids, which, as you can guess, is pretty weird looking.

"Woah, Cole, is that you?" Jay asked, amazed by the sight of the snow monster.

"Just picking you up to return the favor," Cole said as the snow monster pulled us all up. I saw his ghostly form phase out of the monster, causing it to diminish into a pile of snow. I didn't even notice he left his mech. Seeing that only one mech remained led Cole to possess it and for all of us to hold onto it. We started to trek up the mountain even faster than before. Now we'll surely beat Morro to the next destination!

As the mech trekked up the mountain, I noticed that some kind of temple was coming into view. This must mean we're near the top of the mountain! Ha! Take that, Morro!

I had thought too soon. As we got closer, I saw ghosts floating at the temple. I cursed under my breath. Morro's ahead of us! That stupid avalanche put us behind!

When we got to the temple, everyone immediately noticed the ghosts, but at the same time, a ghost arrow flew towards us, whistling. It hit Kai square in the chest, causing us all, with Lilly being the loudest, to yell "Kai!"

He rubbed his chest for a moment, then got up. "The armor works! I didn't turn into a ghost!" he informed us, "Though, the impact of the arrow still hurts."

Suddenly, the mech lurched, then it was thrown into the temple wall by the mech the ghosts were possessing. I was thrown off the mech by the impact, causing my head to throb and me to roll to the side. I started to get up, just as two ghosts were coming towards me. They had weapons too. Crud. I dodged a few of their slashes the best I could, but I ended up tripping and falling off the boardwalk-like floor sticking out of the mountain. I hung onto the boards, trying to figure out how to get up without becoming a ghost.

"Hold on, Karma!" I heard Lilly shout. She ran over, trying to fend the ghosts off with her powers, which were pretty weak right now. As the ghosts started backing up, I shouted "Help me up!"

"I can't! If I turn my back these floating dinguses will kill me!" Lilly said, still trying to fend them off with the droplets of water she could conjure up.

"So, you're going to leave me hanging!?" I asked.

"For now I have to!" Lilly answered, almost hitting a ghost with a drop of water. I sighed, trying to pull myself up, but I couldn't get up. Well, this sucks. I swung my feet back and forth in waiting, wondering if anyone had found Morro and kicked his butt yet. Finally, Lilly helped me up, apologizing for taking a long time.

"I could have fallen and died, ya know," I told her, a little peeved.

"But did you?" Lilly asked.

"Obviously not," I said, confused by what she said.

"Then you're fine," Lilly said, "Now let's go!" As she ran off, I huffed, still a little peeved. Does she not care that I almost fell to my death!? I ran after her, shoving that thought out of my mind immediately when I saw we were running after Morro. I felt a sudden rush of energy and darted past Lilly, towards Morro. My hood flew off my head and my scarf flailed in the wind. I felt the energy of the Dark Arts magic growing in my left hand. Though, if I threw it at Morro, I'd hurt Lloyd in the process. Though, it would stop Morro, and we'd catch him. I quickly made my decision, and threw the dark orb at Morro, striking him in the back. He fell over into the snow and I ran over to him, pulling out my staff and holding it at his neck.

"It's over, Morro," I said, glaring at him, "Get out of Lloyd's body now, or I'll pull you out of there myself."

Morro laughed. "How could you even possibly pull me out of his body?"

"I have my ways," I said, narrowing my eyes, "So, please, release Lloyd or I will hurt you."

"Hurt me? But wouldn't you be hurting Lloyd, too? The person you so desperately want to save?" Morro gave a fake sad look.

"Lloyd would understand!" I argued. He would, right!? I really don't want to hurt him, but sometimes someone has to experience pain to get rid of something, right?

"Are you so sure about that?" Morro questioned, "I could let you him talk to you right now."

"Go ahead," I said, bracing myself for some half-assed attempt to impersonate Lloyd. Instead, I got the very same voice I remember hearing many days before, when I returned to the team. The same voice I used to think that sounded like a woman's.

"Karma..." his voice was weak and quiet, and one of his eyes was the red I remember seeing before. My eyes widened. It _is_ Lloyd speaking to me. "Karma, please...What Morro feels is what I feel. I'm actually hurting a lot right now...Why...why did you throw the orb at me?"

I froze and felt tears well up in my eyes. I actually _hurt_ Lloyd. I felt angry with myself. Why did I do that!? It stopped Morro, but it really hurt Lloyd! I'm a horrible friend...

"Karma...there is one thing I need you to tell everyone though," Lloyd said, weakly. I leaned forward, expecting to hear Lloyd say something, but instead the end of my staff slammed into my face, and a crack came from my nose. I had not noticed Morro's hands slowly moving towards the staff. Curse my sight!

I steadied myself, ready to evade his next blow, but I smacked with my own metal staff on the side of the head. I collapsed in the snow, blood leaking from my nose and my head throbbing. I couldn't get up.

"Heh. The thing I use on Kai works on you too. Something tells me this team is full of idiots," I heard Morro say. I turned my head to face him.

"You mean...that wasn't..." my voice trailed off. Did Morro really trick me!?

Morro laughed, as if he just witnessed the most hilarious thing ever. "Of course not! You really think I'd let that weakling into control!? I'm not as stupid as I look."

So, I was mad at myself over a freaking _trick_!? Oh, when I get my hands on Morro I'll-!

I heard someone running towards us then. Morro dropped my staff, then ran up the mountain, progressing towards The Blindman's Eye. Honestly, curse Morro for playing with my feelings like that! I hope the Ghostbusters catch him and put him in a box with Slimer!

"Karma, are you alright?" Jay asked, helping me up. I nodded, despite blood running down my face and chin.

"Don't worry about me. We need to stop Morro!" I told my friends, before beginning my climb up the mountain after Morro. They all followed me up, which Morro noticed. He dropped a few icicles on us, which we blocked with our Aeroblades. I saw Cole save Jay from falling off an icicle, which made me question how Cole could grab him. Doesn't Cole phase through everything since he's a ghost now? Or can he actually grab things if he tries?

We continued to climb, despite becoming slower and slower due to Morro's multiple attempts to knock us off the mountain.

"We'll never make it in time!" Kai said, his voice showing hints that he's losing hope.

"Wait, what if we try our Airjitzu?" Jay suggested. I was unsure about using Airjitsu, since I wasn't quite adjusted to it yet.

"But I'm not really adjusted to it yet!" I said, nervous.

"But what if I don't make it!? I've never practiced!" Cole panicked, just as nervous as I was.

"Just try! You guys can do it!" Lilly encouraged us as the others began to use their Airjitsu. She let go of the icicle she was hanging onto and flew upwards in an Airjitsu tornado. I sighed. I just have to believe.

I cast a glance at Cole, who looked just as nervous.

"We can do this," I encouraged both him and myself, "We just have to believe."

I let go of my icicle and started falling. I quickly did the moves for Airjitsu and suddenly felt myself flying upward. I was doing it! I did Airjitsu!

I looked to my right to see Cole in an Airjitsu tornado as well, looking happy and relieved. I smiled at the sight. We both landed on the top of the mountain, where everyone else was waiting.

"You guys ready!?" Kai asked, pumped up. I nodded, a smile of determination appearing on my face. We all jumped into The Blindman's Eye just as Morro was reaching us. As I jumped into the storm, I made sure to flash two thumbs down at Morro. My symbol of "respect" towards him. As the storm swallowed me and my team, I could hear Morro yelling "No!"

Ha, try getting ahead of us now, slimebag.


	14. Chapter 14

I opened my eyes slightly, bewildered by the sudden blackout I just experienced. _What just happened?_ I don't remember getting hit over the head with anything or accidentally inhaling any chemicals. Was it blood loss? I held a finger under my nose, checking if I was still losing blood. Nope. I wiped whatever blood was remaining on my face on my sleeve, then sat up. I immediately noticed the others getting up just then. I heard someone say "Woah", and it appeared they were all staring at something. I got up and pushed through them, wanting to see what they were looking at. What I saw next blew me away.

There were beautiful, cylindrical buildings painted white with roofs of gold. Some buildings resembled some of the older homes I have seen nearby my grandparents' home. Boats floated in the sky, as if there was actually water there. The land holding the buildings floated as well, and clouds flowed over the land like a fog. The air smelled of cherry blossoms and ice, and it wasn't as cold up here as it was on the mountain. It all was breathtaking. I found myself at a loss for words for it's beauty.

"Is this heaven?" Lilly asked, a little dazed.

"Methinks this may be the Cloud Kingdom," Zane said, still stuck with his pirate dialect.

"Well, let's go find out," Jay said, still marveling at the structures of this new place. We continued forward down a bridge-like land structure that connected to a large cylindrical building. I could see a gate and someone waiting for us at the end. A tour guide maybe?

When we reached the gate, the man greeted us with a polite "Welcome to the Cloud Kingdom!" His hair was blondish-gray and his eyes were the color of silver. He looked to be about as old as Ronin, possibly in his forties or fifties. Though, one thing I noticed, his clothes looked pretty old fashioned. Is this place similar to the villages of Ninjago? "We've been expecting you," he continued.

So, there's more than one of him? Or does he truly have a mouse in his pocket? Then again, the way he said "We've been expecting you" sounded polite, yet ominous. Maybe I'm thinking negatively about that statement because it's been said by a villain in movies one too many times?

"How are we-" Jay said, bewildered by the floating land we were standing on. The man finished his sentence, then said, "I'm Fenwick, and I've been instructed to show you all around." He bowed slowly. Kai stepped forward.

"I'm-" Kai was interrupted by Fenwick finishing his sentence. "Kai, Master of Fire." Okay, now this was getting creepy. How did he already know Kai!?

"I saw everything that happened in Ninjago," Fenwick claimed. I doubted it. I was beginning to think this Fenwick guy is actually just a stalker. He somehow knew Kai, and saw everything that happened in Ninjago. Doesn't that sound like a stalker to you? It does to me!

Cole's mouth started to open when Fenwick spoke again. "You have traveled far for the Sword of Sanctuary, a powerful weapon that allows you to see your opponent's next attack, also the second clue to finding the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master." Okay, this guy is a Class B stalker now.

"But how are ye-" Zane was cut off by Fenwick saying "Finishing your sentences?"

"I know, it's rather annoying, but up here, let's just say we know what's coming next. Come, Morro isn't far behind," Fenwick informed us, motioning for us to follow him. I didn't trust this guy. He seemed a bit shady. Too shady. I was reluctant to follow him, but seeing my friends were just going along with it and following him, I had no choice. I either go with them, or stay behind just to get my ass kicked again by Morro. I ran to catch up with the others, nervous about where Fenwick was leading us. I hoped he wasn't as shady as he seemed, but you can't always predict a stranger's actions, can you?

We followed Fenwick, our odd tour guide, into a temple with the same color scheme as all the other buildings in the Cloud Kingdom, white and gold. Inside, monks sat at desks, writing on brown parchment. They muttered and whispered to each other as they wrote, some in languages I didn't understand. I tried to peek at one of the scrolls a monk was writing on, but he covered it with his arm, glaring at me. His eyes were silver, like Fenwick's. It made me start to wonder if everyone here has silver eyes.

"Quite a lot of scrolls..." Lilly observed, looking around. Fenwick nodded.

"I know you're familiar with a few of the realms, Cloud Kingdom is a realm that exists parallel to Ninjago," he informed us. I was entirely bewildered then. Sixteen realms? There are realms in Ninjago? Why have I never heard of these before? Literally the only one I know is the Cursed Realm. That's it. What could be in these other realms?

"Any idea on what these 'realms' are?" I whispered to Lilly.

"I know as much as you do," she replied in a whisper. I sighed. I doubted that this Fenwick guy would take the time to explain all the realms to us, so I didn't bother asking.

"In this realm, we try for greater understanding and let go of distraction. There is no television, no video games. Here, our words matter, you see in Cloud Kingdom we are the writers of destiny. It was here that it was decided that Lloyd be the Green Ninja, and just now that Zane was to find his voice again," Fenwick continued. No television!? How do these people even live!? They're seriously missing out! Though, they decided Lloyd would be the Green Ninja? Gosh, then that would mean they're the people who decided to have Lloyd endure all those traumatic events! What the hell did they do that to him for!?

"I sense my vocal patterns have returned back to normal without any repairs," Zane informed us, surprised by his pirate dialect being gone. Wait, if they fixed Zane's voice, then does that mean they're the ones who stopped my nose from bleeding when I passed out!?

"So, if you guys did that for Zane, then did you guys stop me from losing blood by stopping my bloody nose?" I asked. Fenwick nodded with a smile.

"We can't have you dying of blood loss just yet," he said. It sounded ominous.

"Wait...does that mean I'm going to die of blood loss later?" I asked, actually a little frightened. Fenwick continued to smile.

"No! Of course not," he said, reassuringly. Though, as he turned, he looked back with a sinister look in his eyes and a creepy smile, mouthing "Maybe." I shivered, a little scared now. I stuck to Lilly's side, afraid to approach Fenwick now.

"Of course, fix her broken nose but not my freakin' hand," I heard Lilly mutter under her breath, a little ticked. It made me feel guilty then for having my broken nose fixed so quickly. Why couldn't they do the same for her? Or fix her hand instead of my nose? Then again, they didn't really fix my concussion. I'm still a little dizzy.

"If you what happens next, then you must know how important it us for us to get the Sword of Sanctuary," Kai said, not noticing the creepy look Fenwick gave me earlier.

"Yes, and I know how you make a promise to save your friend Lloyd, sadly we can not insure promises. Us writers of destiny are not allowed to pick sides," Fenwick explained, "Though, Morro wasn't supposed to get out of the Cursed Realm, yet he defied destiny, and that caused some issues to happen. Did you really think we wanted Cole to become a ghost?"

I felt angry. Oh, so Morro can defy freakin' destiny but these bungholes can't stop Cole from becoming a ghost or give Lloyd a frigging break!? They couldn't stop Sensei Garmadon from dying!? They couldn't stop Misaki from killing Luo!? I wanted to scream. How come Morro gets to defy destiny but the people who deserve it don't!? Can't these writers stop him!? Who cares about picking sides! Just stop this buttghost from wreaking any further havoc and hurting Lloyd!

"Then why can't you rewrite everything!? Why can't you stop Lloyd from enduring all this trauma he's been through!? Why couldn't you save Cole from becoming a ghost!? Why couldn't you stop my sister from being murdered!?" I shouted, hot tears welling up in my eyes. Fenwick and the writers all looked at me, as well as the others.

"Ever since Morro broke free, things have been happening outside of our control. We don't really know how this all will end," Fenwick explained, casting a glare at me.

"But my sister died before Morro broke free!" I argued, ready to fight Fenwick. He continued to glare at me.

"Everything happens for a reason whether you like it or not, Seiko," he said sternly. I glared at him. I didn't give him permission to use my first name!

"Then just give us the sword. We'll head to the tomb and stop Morro," Kai said impatiently.

"I'm afraid you cannot do that until you talk to the Master Writer," Fenwick said, his glare disappearing. He walked outside and lead us onto one of the air boats. We sailed through seas of clouds, which actually looked like something you'd only see in a dream.

"Morro's after the Realm Crystal, which is a doorway to the sixteen realms I mentioned earlier. It is a bridge to greater understanding, or a gateway to ruin," Fenwick informed us, rowing the ship through the clouds. He continued on to explain the story of the Realm Crystal, and I slowly zoned out of the conversation, admiring the sea of clouds and the peach-colored sky. Suddenly, the beautiful sky I was admiring became blackish-purple and ghost-filled. I was confused, then startled by the silhouette of something large. Judging by the shape, it looked to be a hairy eyeball, but still terrifying. I jumped in my seat at it's sudden appearance. I heard Lilly giggle at me being startled.

"You got scared by a shadow," she whispered, still giggling.

"Shut up," I whispered back, crossing my arms.

Just to catch me up on why the sky suddenly looked so dark, Lilly said we were viewing a realm, the realm that Morro came from. Evidently Morro wants to use the Realm Crystal to release some kind of thing called 'The Preeminent'. I really can't tell you what that is. I don't even know what it is myself.

I listened to Fenwick explain that if the Preeminent was freed from the Cursed Realm, great darkness would engulf the other fifteen realms and no one would be able to bring back the light.

The ghosts and the Preeminent's silhouette disappeared, causing the peach sky and the sea of clouds to return. I heard the others breathe a sigh of relief. The airboat docked by a small building that looked similar to the others. We all got out as Fenwick made sure the boat would stay in it's place.

"Are you all ready to meet the Master Writer?" Fenwick asked us as we walked up to the doors of the building.

"Sure," Kai answered, then muttered, "Let's just get this over with before Morro shows up."

"Alright, could you please wait inside for a moment?" Fenwick asked politely, opening the door. We all nodded and walked in, a little surprised at what we found inside. Stuffed toys were scattered around in the room, and the room smelled of cats for some reason. I saw Jay hurry over to a pinball machine, which he started to play immediately. Does Fenwick think we're still kids or something? Because putting us in some kind of waiting room like this makes me assume that thought!

"Strange place to meet the Master Writer," Zane said, looking around. I nodded.

"Yeah. Then again, all the people in Cloud Kingdom could be strange," I added. I noticed long brown hairs on some of the stuffed animals, which grossed me out. Either the Master Writer is _**really**_ hairy, or there's a humongous cat in here. I'm going with the huge cat, considering the smell. Then, suddenly, the room shook, along with everything inside it.

"I didn't know a place like this could get earthquakes!" Lilly said, leaning on a wall to keep from falling.

"Uh, I don't think this is an earthquake we're experiencing!" Jay shouted, sounding terrified. As all of us backed up, a huge, hairy beast revealed itself, bearing resemblance to what the offspring of a cat and a raccoon would look like. I shrieked at the sight of it, terrified. Jay immediately turned around and tried to open the door.

"It won't budge!" Jay shouted in panic. I knew we couldn't trust Fenwick! Just something about how he talked to us and the way he looked at us told me something was off. Just then, the beast picked up Jay, who was screaming. The beast somehow electrocuted the panicking redhead, then threw Jay at us. He looked pretty shocked to say the least.

I saw Lilly run to the right, where the beast wasn't looking. Her katana slipped out of her sleeve and spun, unleashing the turquoise tornado of her spinjitsu. She sped up the wall, then jumped above the beast. The spinjitsu disappeared, revealing Lilly, who was still spinning in midair towards the beast, blade in hand. Before her katana could cut into the beast's flesh, it turned and smacked her, electrocuting her and sending her back towards us. She landed on the ground with a _thud_ , then rolled to a stop. She shook from the electrocution.

"Lilly! Are you alright!?" Kai asked, running up to her. Lilly slowly sat up, rubbing her head.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. We just need to find a way to get out of here and/or kill that bear thing!" she said. Kai nodded.

Kai looked over at one of the stuffed toys, ran over to it, then used it to distract the beast. While he did that, Cole opened the doors, shouting for us all to get out. He must have used his new ghost powers to get out. We all ran out the door, leaving the beast inside. We hurried to shut the door, trapping the creature inside. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, I looked across a small river of clouds to see Fenwick leading Morro and his ghost companions somewhere. I stomped my foot in frustration.

"I knew he was a freaking traitor!" I shouted, angry.

"Why didn't you say anything about it!?" Lilly questioned.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe because you guys had so much trust in Fenwick and followed him everywhere. You guys didn't even notice that he mouthed to me that I would probably die of blood loss later!" I argued.

"I didn't have that much trust in him!" Kai argued.

"Guys! Nows not the time to argue! We need to stop Morro and Fenwick before it's too late!" Cole said, breaking up the argument. We all nodded.

"Right!"

"Now let's get going!" Cole shouted, leading the way. As we ran, I began to think. Obviously, what Fenwick said about not picking sides wasn't true, but what if he wasn't lying about the blood loss? Will I really die later? If so, when?

But wait, didn't Xavier say I would get married someday? So how later is later? Will I really live to get married, or was Xavier's calculation wrong?


	15. Chapter 15

I was running as fast as my legs could carry me. After finding out we shouldn't have even trusted Fenwick in the first place, I could feel nothing but anger. Curse him! Curse every one of his monks too! I hope that creature we encountered back in the building eats them!

We all skidded to a stop when a small monk, who looked no older than thirteen, stopped us. His hair was almond brown, and his eyes were silver like Fenwick's.

"Move out of the way! We don't have time for any of you or Fenwick's excuses!" I shouted impatiently. All I wanted was to fight someone, maybe even possibly kill them. I just wanted payback. I wanted to destroy Morro and Fenwick.

"Please wait! What I have to say is important! Please!" the small monk begged. His voice had an accent that is incredibly hard to find in Ninjago, a British accent.

I started to open my mouth, but Cole put a hand up. "Let him talk, Karma."

The small monk continued to explain how Fenwick was siding with Morro (obviously), and how the Sword of Sanctuary was in a tower behind us. So, we can beat Morro to it after all! Ha! Take that Fen- okay maybe I shouldn't say such a rude word. I am going to call him _ama_ instead, or maybe _unko no nioi kagu hito._

Everyone looked back at the tower, deciding on how to get up there. Jay suggested we use Airjitsu, to which we all agreed. Just in case we ran into any trouble, I prepared my staff, ready to whack the crud out of any ghost or bad monk that stood in our way. We flew up to the top of the tower using Airjitzu. I had a good feeling. We were going to make it before Morro, and we'd be ahead! We'd save Lloyd and Ninjago. Morro would go back to his realm. Everything would return to normal!

Unfortunately, we got a "pleasant" surprise when we reached the top. Once we landed on the platform at the top, Morro stood a few feet away, Sword of Sanctuary in hand. An unison, everyone but me got out their Aeroblades, tossing them at Morro. He dodged every single one, as if he were that one guy in _The Matrix_.

"It's too late! I know your every move!" Morro laughed, fending off Kai and Zane. I ran towards him, staff at the ready. There has to be some way I can outsmart the sword! I swung my staff, which Morro dodged automatically. I knew he was going to dodge it, but I need to keep him occupied while I try to figure out a way to outsmart the sword. I continued to attempt to land a hit on Morro, only to be knocked back. I quickly regained my focus and ran towards him again. It was then that I noticed something.

Morro had to look into the glass part of the sword, most likely in order to see what I was going to do next. There was only one way I could outsmart him, and I had to be careful.

When I approached Morro and he swung his sword, I ducked and slid behind him in an instant. He turned, ready to swing at me again and not looking at the glass, but I had already climbed up his shoulder and did a handstand on his head.

"I think one thing you forgot to look for in Lloyd's memories is that I'm not as dumb as I look!" I smirked. I slid down and covered his eyes, blocking his vision from sword's glass. "Guys! Get the sword now!"

I tried to maintain a grip on Morro's face, trying to keep his eyes covered as he struggled. My friends ran for the sword, but they couldn't reach us fast enough. Morro sharply jabbed me in the stomach with his elbow. Then, I saw him smirk, then he quickly backed up, slamming me into the wall behind us. My head hit the wall and I fell dizzy again. I lost my grip on Morro's face and crumpled to the ground, my head pounding and dizzy.

"Hah, 'not as dumb as I look' my ass!" Morro snickered. It took me a moment to get what he was saying. A short recommendation to everyone...don't have your head slammed into a wall or all your thoughts will be jumbled like this. I watched Morro slip out a window with sword as Lilly helped me up.

"Don't tell me that hit made you dizzy," she said as I stood up.

"Hate to be the bringer of bad news but yeah. A concussion does that to you after all," I said. Lilly sighed.

"Alright, just follow me," she instructed me, grabbing my wrist. We both slipped out the window, meeting the guys on the roof. As they started to jump roof to roof, Lilly turned and asked me "Are you still dizzy?"

I nodded in response. The world was still shaky in my vision. Lilly turned and picked me up in a way similar to piggy back, the way Luo would carry me sometimes.

"Wait, what are you-" I started to say but was interrupted by Lilly saying "You don't want to be left behind, do you? As long as you're dizzy, you can't jump these rooftops. So, you might as well hang on."

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders as she jumped rooftop to rooftop, catching up with the guys.

"Am I too heavy?" I questioned as she started to slow.

"Are you kidding me!? You're as light as a child! If you were heavy I would have dropped you by now," Lilly said, "And don't even be mad about my statement about you being as light as a child. A lot of women these days would kill to be about that light."

"Does that mean you would too?" I asked.

"No. I'm fine the way I am," Lilly answered.

"Why fight!? I'll win every time!" we heard Morro yell as he ran ahead of all us. His shouting called my attention back to the true matter, stopping Morro. Gosh, I need to stop getting so easily distracted!

"Doesn't mean we can't try!" Cole shouted back with confidence. Morro then turned, and used his wind powers to blow shingles from the roofs towards us. We dodged them all mostly, but Jay got hit in the cheek. I saw Morro use his Airjitzu to escape to another building, and something told me we would have to use ours as well.

"Karma, do you think you could use your Airjitzu?" Lilly asked. I took a moment to see if my vision had gotten any better. It wasn't as shaky as before. I could manage to get to the building. I nodded and Lilly put me down. All at once, all of used our Airjitzu to reach the building Morro escaped to.

"Bye ninja!" Morro waved as he dropped onto a boat below, which was being controlled by his ghost comrades. The hooded ghost next to him unleashed a screech powerful enough to blow us off the building and send us into a nearby boat. I saw Cole immediately get up and try to steer the vehicle, but it shook, and then was grabbed by our dear hairy beast "friend" from earlier. Fenwick walked past, smirking at our capture, but his expression quickly changed when the beast laid eyes on him. The creature let go of the boat, keeping it's eyes on Fenwick. Cole quickly regained control of the boat while the creature was distracted and sailed us through the Blindman's Eye recklessly. Our escape boat lost altitude once we were fully out of the Eye though, and we started to plummet down the slope of the mountain. The boat spun and jerked as it careened down the mountain. At one point, it finally stopped, but we immediately collided with a tree, our luck never taking a turn for the best.

Though, our luck took more of an odd turn instead. The ship had broken into pieces, but now we all were sliding down the mountain on separate boards. The others took the chance to use the boards like snowboards, while I just sat on mine, confused.

"Don't you know how to snowboard?" Kai asked. I shook my head. "Okay, then try to use it like a sled! You've used one of those before, right?" he suggested. I nodded and sat my hands on the edges of the board, steering it like a sled. I pulled my scarf over my nose to block out the frigid wind that blew in my face. I steered my "sled" away from oncoming trees and rocks.

Ahead, I saw the anchor for the Bounty dropping down. Taking that as a sign to board the ship, I steered my sled to the right, towards the anchor. Everyone but Kai jumped onto the anchor.

"I'm going after the Sword!" Kai yelled to us as he sped down the slope on his board. But isn't that a stupid decision to go alone!? Since Morro's got him outnumbered, I doubted that he'd be able to get the sword so easily. He should have at least told one of us so he wouldn't be outnumbered!

The rest of us climbed up the anchor and onto the ship. We all ran to the ship's side to watch Kai attempt to take the sword from Morro. Nya had joined us as well. We saw Kai throw his Aeroblade at least once, then watched him fight Morro. I could see Morro's mouth moving, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I attempted to read his lips, but all I could get was the word "fates". What is he talking about?

Because of the increase in trees on the slope, it began to be harder to see what was going on in Morro's ship below. I strained my eyes, anxious to see what was happening down there, but soon, I heard someone land on the ship's deck. We all turned to see Kai holding up the Sword of Sanctuary triumphantly. "Got it!"

All of us cheered and a wave of relief rushed through me. We have the sword! We can finally beat Morro and his crew! Though, I did wonder one thing...

"How'd you get the sword from Morro?" I asked. Kai pulled off his mask, then brushed some of his spiked hair from his face.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without Lloyd," he said, "Lloyd came into control while I was fighting Morro and told me to take the sword. He sounded weak though."

My feeling of relief disappeared. Oh no. Morro used the same trick on Kai that he used on me earlier. I started to wonder if I should tell Kai the truth, that Morro was only tricking him. Though, what puzzled me is that Morro gave Kai the sword. Why would he do that!? Is it not necessary anymore? Or is Morro planning something else, and giving us the sword was a part of his plan?

I dreaded the answer to my question.


	16. Chapter 16

Once we obtained the sword, we immediately headed back to Steep Wisdom to keep it hidden from Morro. Nya took it to the shed and hid it in a spot where we all were sure Morro would never find it. We all agreed to only use it when the time called for it, and for something like a video game or something. The Ninja suggested their idea of setting up booby traps, to which we all agreed and they went to set up the traps, which were mostly containing water. I was concerned for Cole's safety as he set up the traps along with his friends. If water can kill other ghosts, can't it kill him too? I hoped the others would set the traps up with caution so we wouldn't lose Cole.

While they set up traps, Misako checked on my head, making sure I didn't have signs of a severe concussion. Considering I had taken a couple hits to the head while we were away, it was likely I may have one. Though, I was surprised to find that I didn't.

"You're very lucky, most people would have memory loss and fatal symptoms after hits like that," Misako said, checking my pupils one last time. My eyes struggled to close when she shined the small flashlight in my eyes.

"Well, that's the first time this week something that lucky happened to me. If only the team and I had this much luck in stopping Morro," I sighed.

"I believe good luck will come our way soon. We just have to be patient. Good things come to those to wait after all," Misako gave a smile of reassurance. Her words could be true. Who knows what the future holds? Well, Xavier and the monks at Cloud Kingdom do...but still.

"Yeah. Sometimes you have to wait out a storm to see a rainbow," I smiled. Misako nodded, but then her expression changed when she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"By the way, our last customer left this here. Do you have any idea what it means?" she asked. I looked down at the paper, which had " _rouge homme_ " scrawled on it in blue ink, and with the _rouge homme_ being crossed out in a huge X. I stared at it for a moment, then shook my head.

"Not in any language I know," I said.

"Alright. I'll have to ask Lilly then. I'm assuming it's either Swedish or French," Misako said, stuffing the paper in her back pocket.

"Is she fluent in either of those?" I asked.

"I believe she's fluent in French, considering she told me that that was her father's first language," Misako informed me. Because of what Misako had said, I couldn't get the image of Lilly wearing a beret and holding a baguette out of my mind. It was a pretty humorous image, especially when she has one of her more serious expressions.

"Well, I'm off to go talk to her. Be careful with your head now, okay?" Misako instructed me, walking to the door. I nodded.

"Got it, ma'am," I said as she walked out the door. I slouched in the chair I was sitting in, feeling a little stressed. My recurring feelings that Lloyd won't make it out if this alive settle into my thoughts, and the memory of Morro acting as Lloyd haunted me. Was that really Morro acting? Or was it really Lloyd? Perhaps Lloyd is only showing up for Kai and Morro is using that to trick me? I didn't know what to think. Either could be likely.

 _Maybe you're just not as important as Kai is,_ my thoughts chimed in, _Maybe he really doesn't think of you as a best friend_. Yeah, I'm probably lesser than a best friend. He's know these guys for years and he's only known me for one year. There's no way I could amount to a best friend, especially with the way I act. I'm so easily distracted on these missions to save Lloyd, I have to be lesser than a best friend, because I'm a horrible friend. It's so obvious that I am. It's no wonder I couldn't keep my old friends, who knows if I'll be able to keep all the friends I have now.

I pulled my legs to my chest and laid my head on my knees. I can't be that horrible of a friend, right? But what if I am!? What if I am and no one's telling me!? What if they talk behind my back all the time!? I took a deep breath, trying to calm my frenzied thoughts. Everything's okay, I'm a good person, I'm just getting too worrysome, correct? But really, what if I am that bad of a friend?

I heard the door suddenly open and saw Misako's ashy gray braid tumble off of her shoulder as she walked in. She seemed surprised to see me in here.

"You're still in here? I thought you would have walked out," she said, gathering scrolls she left behind.

I shook my head. "I just needed some time to myself, so I decided to stay in here," I told her as I got up.

"Ah, I can understand," Misako sympathized, "Anyway, I have a clue as to where the tomb is and I'm going to share it with the others. Do you mind joining us?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll join," I nodded, following her through the door. As I walked, my thoughts about being a horrible friend lingered with me. I tried desperately to push them out of my mind, but they wouldn't budge. I could feel dark clouds looming over me as I followed Misako. I guess my thoughts just want to make me feel bad about everything, huh?

I sat through Misako's presentation, paying attention to everything she had to say. Everything about the skull entrance, the sword and the scroll combined holding a secret, and Kai brought up that the sword reflected the location. It sounded complicated, but promising. Only problem was that we didn't have the scroll we needed, the Scroll of Airjitzu. We couldn't find the tomb without it...but Morro can't find the tomb without the sword. Haha! Morro's stuck in the same boat that we are! There's no way he can get ahead of us now!

I smiled to myself, happy that Morro is just as behind as we are. Though, I knew that at some point, we'd have to snatch that scroll from Morro, or he'll have to try to take the sword from us. Either had a likely chance of happening first.

Just then, the door slammed open and we all heard Nya scream "Ronin's got the Sword! He's got the Sword!"

In a split second, I grabbed my staff from my belt, allowing it to lengthen into its true form. I bolted out the door and past Nya, set on taking out Ronin. No buts about whether he's on our side anymore or not. If Nya's screaming over him having the sword, it's evident he's no longer for us. I won't hesitate to take him out, and maybe even kill him.

Suddenly, I heard the Ninjas' traps behind me going off. Crap, they must have stepped in their own booby traps. Even worse, those things are loaded with water balloons...those things could kill Cole! I no longer cared about the sword then. I turned to watch dozens of water balloons begin to rain down on the pavement. Two heading straight for my poor ghostly friend.

"Cole! Watch out!" I shouted, warning him and pointing up at the oncoming balloons. Cole looked up and his eyes widened. He ran out of the way, then started running in circles frantically, trying to avoid getting hit by what he views as death bombs. I heard two things whizz past me, one being a water balloon, and the other being Lilly, who was running towards Ronin. Their swords clashed, making a loud _shing_ sound.

Lilly managed to block every swing Ronin threw at her, but they all were close calls, considering that Ronin could see the future in his sword. Seeing that she was starting to struggle, I decided to share my idea from the earlier fight with Morro to help her.

"Lilly! You have to blind him!" I shouted, "He can't see your next move if you cover his eye!"

"What, Karma!?" Lilly shouted back, not hearing me. She looked away from Ronin for one moment, and paid for it. I watched Ronin took one swing, and cut her across what looked like her neck, from my point of view. She teetered, shocked and holding her shoulder.

I felt rage fill up inside me then. I threw my staff at Ronin, hitting him on the side of the head. I darted towards him and tried to hold him down on the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" I shouted, "I thought you were on our side!"

Ronin chuckled and smiled. "A renegade samurai serves no master, nor does he choose a side."

I first felt his knee connect with my stomach, then he kicked me off of him. I covered my head with my hands, letting my hands take the fall damage instead of my head. I heard Ronin run off, and I cursed under my breath. Screw him. I always knew he was scum. I suddenly heard Lilly curse beside me.

I looked up to see her hand over her shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief to see that her neck wasn't cut. Though, the shoulder part of her gi was stained with blood, and there was a lot on her hand, too.

Lilly must have noticed my worried expression, because she gave a forced smile of reassurance and said "It's okay. I'm fine. We just need to stop Ronin." Though, her icy blue eyes told me that she was in a lot of pain.

"Come on," she said, getting up, "We need to go catch up with the others."

I got up and followed her, remaining cautious. I was truly afraid that she may pass out from blood loss, but she hasn't lost that much blood, has she?

When we entered Steep Wisdom, we discovered that everyone else was gone.

"They must have gone after Ronin in the Bounty," I observed, looking around at the semi-empty tea shop. The only things inhabiting it were shelves of tea, the counter, and us two.

"Yeah...where does Misako keep the bandages?" Lilly asked, looking through drawers, doors, and closets. Crap, I was reluctant to say that I truly didn't know. I never have seen where Misako keeps them. You'd think she'd tell everyone where they are, in case stuff like this happens, but of course she didn't.

"I'm afraid I don't know," I admitted, aiding Lilly in looking for the bandages.

"Damn it," Lilly said, walking around the tea shop looking for them, "You don't think they're on the Bounty?"

"Crap, I think they are," I said with a realization. It was the last place I saw them. Lilly cursed again, slamming her fist on a counter. She then took the scarf she had out of her gi and tied it securely around her shoulder. "That will do."

About ten minutes later, our friends entered, no sign of positivity on their faces. My assumption was that Ronin got away.

"There you guys are! We thought you two got lost," Jay said. I shook my head.

"No, we just r-" I was interrupted by Kai running up to Lilly and asking if she was alright.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," she said calmly, as if she weren't just frantically looking for bandages a minute ago.

"Just a scratch? Lilly, there's blood soaking through your scarf! I doubt it's 'just a scratch'," Kai said, worry in his voice. Misako walked over and examined the gash in Lilly's shoulder. Nya retrieved the bandages and Misako wrapped up her shoulder.

"What happened? Did Ronin do this?" Kai asked. Lilly failed to answer.

"She tried to stop Ronin by fighting him. To be honest, she got the gash because I distracted her. It's my fault," I answered guiltily. The only reason why she has this gash his because of my attempt at helping her, right?

"Karma, it's not your fault. You're not the one who hurt me. It was Ronin. Besides, I made the choice to look away from the fight," Lilly said. Despite what she said, I still felt as though it was my fault. Then, I heard Kai stomp back and forth, looking quite angered.

"First he screws with my sister, then he steals the sword, then he does this to you!? Oh, when I get my hands on Ronin, I'll..." he grumbled.

"Is Kai going to start flipping tables again?" Cole asked? Jay and Zane shrugged as Kai continued to grumble and mumble angrily under his breath. He proceeded to continue stomping back and forth. I was afraid that if he had his powers right now, he'd be bursting into flames.

"Is he alright?" I asked Lilly.

"He'll be fine. He'll eventually wear himself out and calm down," Lilly sighed, rubbing her shoulder.

"Calm down!? Not with Ronin on the loose after what he pulled today! I'll never calm down!" Kai argued, "I'm an eternal flame, baby!"

Nya walked up to her brother and started pushing him out the door. "How about you go outside for a bit and cool off? Maybe go punch a tree if you have to? Yeah, that sounds nice," she said, pushing him outside and closing the door. She then turned around and said "Alright, back to business and what you two missed."

Nya proceeded to explain everything that happened, from what happened in the shed to a few minutes ago. Jay looked pretty unhappy when Nya mentioned Ronin's intentions to kiss her cheek to catch her off guard and get away. Though, I hate to admit it, but Ronin did make a smart move by doing that. It's a pretty good way to distract you enemy.

"Yeah, Ronin tried to do that to me too during the fight, but no thanks. I'd say the title 'old creep' truly fits him now," Lilly said.

Sensei Wu was just about to say something when Zane's falcon flew through the window, cawing loudly. It's eyes projected a hologram of someone who made me want to throw up when he appeared, the old creep himself, Ronin. Though, what he said next shocked us all, and I started to regret what I called him a little bit.


	17. Chapter 17

The hologram stood as though Ronin was a small person standing in the center of the room.

"I can't talk loud," hologram Ronin said, looking around, "but I just wanted to let you know, Nya, that you were right. The Soul Archer didn't hold up his end of the bargain, and Misako was right, too. The scroll and sword do reveal where the tomb is located. You might not have the sword, but I know you all can beat them to the tomb." Ronin suddenly looked panicked, and made a tiny gasp. "They're coming."

"What about the tomb's location?" Jay questioned as Kai entered the tea shop.

"The Caves of Despair. The tomb's- it's- Caves of-" Ronin's connection cut out just as he answered us. His hologram disappeared, leaving empty space in the center of the room. So, he betrayed us for a deal with the ghosts, that they didn't keep? You would have thought Ronin would have known better, since he tricks people too. Well, at least we know where the tomb is now, but what happened to Ronin!?

"The Caves of Despair, we've been there," Sensei Wu said, scratching his beard. I've never been there, but the name makes it sound like it's a depressing place.

"That place used to be a mine, right?" Lilly asked. A mine!? God, with a name like "Caves of Despair", I'd think now that the ghosts of dead miners haunt that place. Ha, no thanks. I've had quite enough of ghosts this whole week.

Sensei Wu nodded. "It was, though, I don't remember seeing any tombs there."

"Well, there are thousands of tunnels within the mine that were left unexplored. Maybe the tomb is in one of them?" Misako mentioned. Yeah, one in thousands of tunnels. How are we supposed to find it before Morro if we have to look through all of those!? At least we had a bit of luck now.

"But how are we supposed to look through all those tunnels? Isn't there some other way?" Nya asked, bringing up the point I was thinking about.

"We don't have the scroll, and we no longer have the sword. With Lloyd's life at stake, what other choice do we have!?" Kai argued. He did have a point. We really do have no other choice.

"The Ninja are right, even a misstep can be a step in the right direction," Sensei Wu said, "We cannot afford to do nothing. The Ninja will go, though, as for you Nya, you're not ready."

Nya crossed her arms in disappointment and sighed, looking at the floor. I felt bad for her. She's always prepared to go, but Sensei Wu denies that she can go. I'm pretty sure that she may be jealous that Lilly and I get to go on these missions with the Ninja, but she doesn't.

"Good luck to you guys then," Nya said, a small hint of bitterness in her voice.

While the Ninja took the Bounty, Lilly and I took my dragon. It was a faster way to get there, and we got to see a little more of the scenery too. As we flew, I decided to talk to Lilly, uncomfortable with the silence.

"So, it looks like you and Kai are on good terms," I broke the silence. I saw her nod.

"Things are still a little sore, but it's alright. It's all good now," Lilly said, showing no signs of either positivity or negativity.

"Well, that's pretty good I guess," I smiled, "I kinda hated seeing negativity between you two. Especially with the way you reacted." She just nodded and the silence returned.

"Anyways, what was with Kai earlier? He was kinda overreacting," I asked. I remembered someone asking if he was about to flip a table.

"He's a little overprotective of the team when it comes to someone hurting us, especially if someone hurts his sister. Trust me, if Jay or Cole even hurt Nya once, he'd snap their necks. No joke," Lilly informed me. I was a little frightened at that last part. Is that what older brothers do when their siblings are hurt?

"That last part makes him sound a little scary," I said. Lilly chuckled a little bit.

"Kai's far from scary. The real scary one here is Zane," she told me. I suddenly felt frightened of my nindroid friend. Zane's the scary one? But he seems so kind and gentle! Though, the suspicious look he gave me when he brought up my relation to Clouse did seem a little frightening. He must have some kind of beef with my uncle or something.

"How is Zane the scary one? He seems so nice!" I asked. Lilly sighed, then smiled.

"Oh Karma, there's many things I could tell you, but it's going to remain a secret. At least until you see it for yourself that is..." she left me hanging. Though, my fear of my friend grew. 'Until I see it for myself'!? What!? What does she mean!? How come the others have never mentioned this!? I kept silent the rest of the way, my thoughts swarming with questions. What exactly does Zane do that makes him scary?

We landed in front of the caves two minutes earlier before the Ninja. We knew we were in the right place when we saw the skull symbol. This is it. We walked inside, meeting some lanterns as we entered. Kai stepped forward and picked a lantern at random. The others stepped back, seeming tense, then they looked a little shocked.

"I doubt the first test would be _that_ easy, guys," Kai said. Test? Wait, what test!?

"There's tests!?" I asked, confused and surprised. Zane nodded.

"We must pass several tests to access the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb. Some may not be so easy," Zane informed me. It was hard to imagine that he was scary, like Lilly makes him out to be.

"Yeah. These tests probably won't show up until later though," Kai said, walking ahead of us, lantern in hand. We all followed him down the dark tunnel. The light the lantern was emitting wasn't as bright, so everything still appeared very dark.

When we reached an opening in the wall of the cave, Zane walked ahead, scanning the room.

"My sensors are picking up traces of Cethanol, a highly flammable and slightly toxic gas. I recommend you all cover your faces with your masks," Zane informed us. I quickly pulled my scarf over my nose and mouth. The smell of the gas was disgusting, and the scent on my scarf didn't cover it up at all. It smelled worse than my eighth grade science teacher's description of the smell of sulfur. I continued through the opening with my friends, despite the smell.

Almost immediately, I noticed a gigantic hole in the ground. The smell became stronger as I approached it, and I could feel heat rising out of it.

"It is a Cethanol geyser," Zane observed, "We will not be able to stay long. It could ignite at any moment."

I started to feel anxious. Ignite at any moment? That means we could die at any moment now! I tried to keep my rising panic inside, and tried not to show that I was feeling really nervous.

I walked around, observing the rocks around the geyser. I stopped when I heard someone say they found a body. We all rushed around Jay to find the skeletal remains of someone who looked to be no taller than Jay. There was singed black hair around the skulls face, with a shiny, neon green streak in the hair that was untouched. The clothes, or what was left of the clothes were singed as well, but there were remnants of it's old mossy green color. This guy my have really liked the color green.

"Well, there's the First Spinjitzu Master, but where's the Realm Crystal!?" Kai questioned. Zane walked past him and slowly crouched down by the remains.

"This is not the First Spinjitzu Master," Zane said. He moved a clothing fold, revealing a shiny silver symbol. It read "wind". My eyes widened when I realized who it was.

"They were the master of wind. This is Morro's mortal remains," Zane informed us all. We all looked down at the skeleton. I didn't want to even imagine how he died. I'm afraid it would be a horrifying and somewhat gory image, considering what geysers can do.

"Huh, so this is Old Joe Windy Pants," Jay said. I tried not to giggle at his nickname for the wrathful ghost.

"Yupp," Cole said, staring at the skeleton. Jay turned and was about to say something when we saw a ghost swing his scythe, which hit the ground. Rocks rained down, blocking our exits and sealing us in this death trap.

"Oh, isn't that just dandy," Lilly said sarcastically, "How are we supposed to get out now!?"

"Uh, guys," Jay spoke up, "I think I'm feeling a little lightheaded. My vision's getting blurry."

The gas was getting to Jay, as it was most of us. We needed to find a way out fast, before we die of toxic gas inhalation!

Zane looked around, scanning the area again. "Pixal has located an opening! The cave must have created a gap!" he informed us. Cole walked to the geyser's hole, throwing a rock over it. I was honestly baffled by his decision. Just what exactly does he think he's doing!? "Now the pressure will compact the explosion, multiplying the damage ten fold! When it goes, every cave in a ten mile radius will be filled with lava that incinerates everything in it's path!" Cole exclaimed.

He jumped onto the rock, then used Airjitzu to escape through the opening.

"This guy's got to be a mad scientist or something," Lilly mumbled, following him, using Airjitzu as well. The rest of us followed, landing in another cave above. As we started to slowly make our way through the cave, I felt a sudden rush of heat and a smell that was worse than sulfur. When I turned around, I saw a huge cloud of flames barreling towards us at top speeds.

"Run!" I screamed, sprinting down the cave with the others. We jumped down a hole, just to land in a minecart that was just so conveniently placed there. Hello good luck! Though, once we all were inside, it immediately started speeding down the tracks. It's speed increased as it went down the tracks.

"How do we stop this thing!?" Jay freaked out.

"Try your Aeroblades!" Cole commanded us. All at once, we all tried to use our Aeroblades as brakes for the cart, but it was no use. The cart wouldn't slow down.

"Well, I didn't expect a brakeless makeshift rollercoaster to come out of this," Lilly said. I didn't know if she was trying to lighten our spirits or she was just making a casual comment.

"The tracks end just ahead!" Kai notified us all. Looking at the mangled tracks ahead, I knew what was ahead wasn't going to be good. Every time the hero is in a minecart and he/she meets mangled tracks like that, it doesn't end well. It ends with either death or a close call with death.

When our cart hit the mangled tracks, I immediately screamed. Lava was just below us, and the tracks ended right over the lava! We were thrown from the cart once it hit the end of the mangled tracks, and everyone screamed including me. We were falling towards our boiling doom, and not even our Airjitzu could get us out of here.

Suddenly, I heard Jay yell "Grab on!" I noticed a small ladder hanging from above. Hello again good luck! I grabbed onto it and watched the others do the same. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that all my friends had made it on safely. We all climbed up the rope ladder to safety, and came to find out the ladder was connected to Ronin's ship, although, the old sneak wasn't on board.

Suddenly, his hologram appeared on the control monitor of the ship.

"I'm sorry again Ninja, but Morro told you all the wrong location," there was a petrified look on his face as he spoke, as if something terrifying just happened to him, "The real location is beneath the sea. There you will find the Realm Crystal. Beat Morro to it. I'm counting on you guys."

The hologram disappeared, leaving us with what he said. What does he mean Morro told us the wrong location!? Last I remember, he was the one who told us it all! Though, one thought came to my mind. What if Morro had possessed Ronin when he made that call? It wasn't evident in the hologram, but holograms can cover up various things. But, if Morro possessed Ronin, then that means he's out of Lloyd's body! Does that mean Lloyd has been freed!? Or is he...dead? I started to feel anxious again, nervous on what happened or is going to happen to my best friend.

"Look at that," Kai said, "The reason why Misako never found the tomb is because it's under water!"

I felt a feeling of hope grow. Under water!? That means Morro can't reach that place unless he's got some kind of ghostly submarine! Ha! Take that ya dumb ghost!

"Well, who's ready for deep sea diving?" Lilly said. I heard Kai make a small gulp at the mention of the sea. Crap, I almost forgot he had aquaphobia.

"Let's get going!" Zane said cheerfully, taking control of the ship and flying it out of here. As we left, I heard a huge _boom_ behind us, but I didn't look back. You wanna know why?

Because cool guys don't look at explosions...and technically because I was going to copilot the ship. Always have your eyes on what's ahead of you when you're flying an old sneak's ship, kids!


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N: I am so sorry if this chapter feels rushed in any way. I have a deadline to finish this story by Halloween and I figured I should at least get this chapter finished before I took any kind of break.**_

 _ **P.S: Juggling school and writing is not fun ;-;**_

I looked out the window of Ronin's ship now turned submarine, admiring the colorful fish that swam by. We were on our way to the tomb, in pursuit of the Realm Crystal. Nya, Sensei, and Misako all waited on the Bounty above water, since there wasn't much room in Ronin's ship.

I heard Kai sigh nervously as he looked out the ship's windows. He walked over to where Cole was, avoiding the windows. They both seemed to be pretty on edge.

"We are almost to the tomb," Zane notified us, pointing at the radar. A small green dot blinked on the northeast region of the radar, indicating that we were getting close.

"We'll get there in no time!" I smiled.

"Hopefully we get there quickly," Kai said, sounding a bit anxious. I nodded.

"Yeah," Cole started, "Can't believe we've made it here, after all we've been through."

I nodded again, recalling everything that had happened this week. Seeing Lilly's hand break, getting the concussion, fighting the motorcycle ghost, Sensei Yang's Temple, meeting Ronin, The Cloud Kingdom, all of it. It was unbelievable to me that we were still alive. I'm sure all the stuff we've been through would have killed a movie hero/heroine. It was then I realized something. We've had luck all this time! All this stuff would have killed anyone, but it didn't kill us! Our luck was that we lived through it all. Even Cole, though his status of life is unknown.

"I can't believe I'm underwater," Kai groaned, ignoring the subject of the conversation. He was looking out the window again. Lilly turned and looked at him.

"Maybe it wouldn't be bothering you so much if you stepped away from the windows," she suggested.

"But most of this ship is windows!" Kai complained. Lilly raised an eyebrow.

"You were just standing in a windowless section of the ship with Cole a few moments ago," she reminded him, "And you're telling me there's no windowless section of the ship?"

"But when I stand over there I can still see out the windows!" Kai argued. Lilly sat there for a moment, then facepalmed.

"You don't have to look straight forward. All you have to do is look at something other than a window, whether it be a wall,seat, anything," she told him from behind her hand.

"Oh, okay. I'll try that," Kai said, walking to the back of the ship.

"He's such an idiot sometimes," Jay muttered.

"Says the guy who thinks breaking into buildings is alright," Lilly said. Jay whipped his head around to glare at her.

"Hey! My idea got us somewhere!" Jay protested.

"Yeah," Lilly replied, "In a fight with our Satan-possessed friend." Jay grumbled under his breath about Lilly only defending Kai for some reason. I didn't get to hear everything he mumbled, but Lilly stood up immediately, grabbing the redhead by the scarf. Her cheeks burned pink. "What was that!?"

"Hey now!" I broke in, "Let's not be fighting. Especially not now. A fight within the team is the last thing we need right now."

"At least let me slap him!" Lilly said. I shook my head.

"You do it and you get hit on the head with my staff," I threatened.

"You're going to solve violence...with violence?" Cole questioned.

"It has proved effective in some cases!" I stated. Cole just sighed.

"Fine. Fine," Lilly grumbled, dropping Jay. He scooted back onto his seat, adjusting his scarf back to how it was before. I scooted to the front, joining Zane in the control seats.

"Are we there yet?" I questioned.

"We are very close. While you all were threatening to kill each other, Misako sent a transmission giving us the best of luck. She mentioned the tests, and said we had to remember the phrase 'A Spinjitzu master can, a Spinjitzu master cannot'. I assume it will be very crucial to passing the tests," Zane informed me. I nodded in understanding.

"I'll keep it in mind," I said, sitting back in my seat. I started to drift off again, as my dizziness was returning. I fell asleep, the riddle repeating in my mind.

~∆~√\/\

"I can't believe you slept through all that!" Jay exclaimed, waking me from my slumber.

"Wha?" I asked, confused. Slept through what?

"We just got attacked by a giant squid! But we found the tomb," Jay explained. I slept through that!? That's a new record.

"It is best that we go in now, before Morro decides to show up," Zane suggested to which we all agreed. When we exited the ship, I noticed that we were no longer surrounded by water, and instead by rock. Didn't know there were dry places inside the sea like this. We all started to enter the cave, when suddenly Jay found a piece of mossy green cloth hanging on the jagged edge of a rock. He paused to inspect it.

"I have a feeling Morro's already beaten us," he said sadly. Kai turned around and looked at it, denying that it was Morro's. He and Jay began to argue over it then.

"Okay, but if Morro really isn't here, wouldn't you two be wasting time, giving him a chance to get here?" I said. The both of them shut up then.

"You have a point..." Kai admitted, stepping away from Jay and the cloth. Jay muttered something under his breath sarcastically as we entered the cave. I wasn't able to hear it.

Suddenly, the ship announced it was leaving, to which we ran back, pleading it to not leave and yelling "No!" The ship disappeared under the water, leaving us with no way to get out of here.

"Well, I guess all we can do is continue onwards," Cole said. We followed him into the cave, and entered a room with sixteen doors. It was the first test, and it was a pretty hard one. There were different statuettes on each door, all holding a different light square in different positions. I was confused on the significance of the different poses. We couldn't just choose a door at random, as either one of these doors could be a trap. We all had to think of Misako's riddle from earlier, a Spinjitzu master can, a Spinjitzu cannot.

I was stumped. What exactly does the riddle have to do with this!? I watched Jay walk up to one of the doors, ready to open it, when Zane stopped him.

"Step away from that door, Jay. We are in a Zoetrope," Zane explained. Jay backed away from the door.

"In order to find out which is the correct door, I must spin," Zane told us all, informing us what a Zoetrope is. The nindroid stepped back, then spun, a light, icy gray tornado engulfing him. He spun for a solid four seconds, then halted, the tornado disappearing. He pointed to a door to my left. It was the one we came through earlier!

"That is the correct door," he informed us all.

"But isn't that the same door we came through to enter this place?" I questioned. Zane nodded.

"It is, but I assume there is a certain reason why we must enter it again," he said. We all turned and walked through the door, only to find ourselves in a completely different room. What sorcery is this!?

"That wasn't here before," Cole observed, looking at a golden staff resting above.

"The Staff of the First Spinjitzu Master," Kai looked at it in awe. He started to walk towards it, when Cole grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Wait! This could be the second test!" Cole warned him, then looked to Zane, "What do you think?"

Zane proceeded to scan the room right to left. He shook his head once he was done scanning. "Pixal has not found a pattern. For this puzzle, I am at a loss."

Well, that's odd. No pattern? Wouldn't that mean this is going to be a much more difficult puzzle? Or is there no puzzle at all? Misako's riddle doesn't even fit this situation either. What's the answer to this test? Just then, I heard a click and spikes shot out at all of us. I made a tiny shriek (that actually sounded more like a squeak) and dodged the spikes. Once I found that it was safe to stand still again, I looked to see Kai standing on a sunken plate of the floor.

"So, maybe our second test is to survive all the booby traps?" I suggested. Lilly shook her head.

"No. Think of the riddle. A Spinjitzu master can, a Spinjitsu master cannot. Spinjitzu is on the ground, and the floor is filled with traps. So, we need to find an airborne way to get across," she explained. It made sense, though, how did she think that up so quickly!?

"Well, I could just do this then," Kai declared, spinning into an Airjitzu tornado. He started moving across the room, but suddenly it disappeared and fell, causing him to land on another trap panel. Spikes flew towards him, which he dodged and ran across the room, setting off several more traps.

"Kai, stop!" Jay shouted, stepping forward, setting off another trap. Most of the floor fell into an abyss below, not giving us an easy way to get to the staff. Unfortunately, Lilly was on one of the fallen tiles, but she managed to hang onto another one just before she fell.

"Of course, it always has to happen to the person who has an injured hand," she huffed, trying to climb up onto the tile. At the time though, Kai was continuing to run around to avoid falling, causing him to set off even more traps. Most of the floor was now gone, and the dark abyss below was starting to scare me.

"Everyone stop moving!" Jay screamed, sounding frustrated, "Clearly, the clue says this is a test that a Spinjitzu master cannot do. So why aren't we following the clue!?"

It was silent then, as everyone was trying to think of what to do. Our chances of getting the staff easily are far gone now, and we have a dark abyss below threatening us. Not a good situation.

"Wait, what if it's a trick?" Cole suggested, breaking the silence, "What if the reason we can't do it is because we were never meant to get the staff. What is the first rule of being a ninja?"

" 'A ninja never quits'," Zane spoke up.

"Exactly! That's why we can't do it! A ninja would never give up!" Cole said. I had to admit, it made sense. But, what exactly do we do to give up?

"Alright guys, just trust me," Cole told us all.

"Wait, what are you g-" I started to say, when suddenly Cole jumped into the abyss. We have to do THAT!? No. No way. I'm not jumping into the abyss!

"Woohoo! Come on down and enjoy the ride, guys!" I heard Cole's voice from below. Well, at least he wasn't hurt or dead. I looked over and saw Lilly shrug. She let go of the tile she was hanging on and fell into the darkness below. One by one, my friends followed until I was the last one. I finally made up my mind and jumped down with them, closing my eyes as I fell. I was surprised when I felt my back hit something cold, and I began to slide. I opened my eyes to find that I was sliding down some kind of huge ice slide. I had to admit, it was pretty cool. (Ha...pun)

"Try to stay together!" I heard Kai shout from one side. Considering how slick the slide was, that was going to be a little difficult. Suddenly, I came to a large ramp that launched me into the air. I noticed Zane and Lilly were in midair as well. I shared a brief wave before I fell onto the next slide, speeding down it.

"I swear I've seen this in a movie before!" I said. Only problem was that I couldn't remember what movie.

"Same here!" I heard Jay reply from the right.

We all went down a number of slides before we crashed into a snowy wall, revealing some sort of icy maze behind it. I stood up, brushing the snow off my gi, and I looked around.

"I'm great at mazes," Jay bragged, "We'll get out of here in no time."

At the same time, Kai walked over to one of the ice walls, then gave a surprised look. "Whoa, if my reflection means anything, I'm starting to think we're not going to break out of this maze any time soon at all."

Confused, but curious at the same time, I walked over to a wall and looked at my reflection. I was shocked to find an older me staring back. My reflection wore the clothes of a sensei, with my respective color included. My hair was much longer and-suprisingly enough-I was taller! Much taller! Taller than maybe Lilly even! Hallelujah! I won't be mistaken as a kid forever!

"Is this...telling me my future?" I questioned.

"I believe it is, as it is telling me mine as well," I heard Zane say from the other side of the room. I was awestruck. So, this is me in the future. Sweet!

Curious about everyone else's reactions to their future selves, I turned to look at everyone. Kai and Zane looked pretty satisfied, Jay looked ecstatic, Cole looked a bit upset, and Lilly, her cheeks were a slight red, but at the same time, her eyes were shining like she was about to cry. Is she feeling overwhelming joy, or sadness? It was hard to tell. As for Cole, I could tell why he was upset. Considering he's a ghost now, he probably doesn't have a future. Poor guy...

I turned back to my reflection and put my hand on the ice. My reflection did the same, and her hand was bigger than mine. Gosh, I guess I really am going to have a huge growth spurt these next couple years.

Suddenly, I saw my father materialize right next to my reflection. His hair was silver, and he looked old enough to be 98 or so. My mother did not materialize though. Where is she!? Just then, I saw a shadow of figure materialize in the ice. I at first thought it was my mother, but then I realized the figure simply looked to masculine to be my mom. Who is that!?

Before I could see their face, Jay let out a shriek that pulled my attention away from the ice.

"It's Morro!" Cole shouted, alarming everyone else. I saw that the ice wall that Cole and Jay were looking at was shattered, revealing the ghastly boy. Morro tuned and threw Jay into Cole, pointing the Sword of Sanctuary at them.

"All you Ninja do is talk. Blah blah blah. I'll stop you from talking!" Morro shouted, his threats beginning to sound more like a five year old kid's instead of a menacing ghost's. I pulled my staff out of my belt and ran towards Morro as he tried to slice Jay in half. Jay got up and ran away, terrified. Morro followed him, trying to cut off the blue ninja's legs. I charged a ball of darkness in my hand and threw it towards Morro, blinding him for merely two seconds. He continued to run in pursuit of Jay. We followed Morro, only to get separated during it. I continued to run straight forward, in hopes that I'd catch up with the others and meet them at the end. I heard Morro's cackling laugh echo through the tunnel I was running in. It caused me to look behind my back every five seconds, in fear that the ghost would be following me. Luckily for me, Morro didn't choose my path.

After a bit of running, I reached a clearing in the middle of the maze where I could stop and take a breath. After taking a moment, I looked around at the different entryways I could take. I first decided to call for my friends, in hopes that they were nearby.

"Kai!? Zane!?" I called out, "Cole!? Jay!? Lilly!? Anyone!?"

I heard Morro's laugh echo again, making me anxious. He's here. He heard me. But I'm not afraid of him! Or...am I? I'm standing here, shivering and panicking on the inside that he's somewhere around here, waiting to kill us. Waiting to kill me. He's got the weapon to do it.

I _am_ scared of him, but I'm afraid to admit it. I'm afraid of what Morro can do, especially with the Sword of Sanctuary in his possession. I'm afraid of what Morro is doing and is going to do to Lloyd. I'm afraid of Morro _. I'm afraid of him._

It was then that I felt a cold chill move through the room and then suddenly, in a low voice by my ear, "Boo."

I shrieked and turned immediately, pointing my staff towards Morro, who was behind me. He chuckled.

"Looks like you're all alone now. There's no one here to take out the big bad ghost for you," he teased, his voice pretty menacing. I narrowed my eyes.

"I've fought you on my own a couple of times!" I argued.

"Ha, yeah, and you either lost or a friend came in to save the day, but not here," Morro gave a menacing stare. I could feel my panic rising. "So now," Morro started, "we'll battle. One on one."

I shook my head. No. I'm not doing this. I'll hurt Lloyd if I do so!

"What? Afraid of hurting your friend? Why, you'd be doing him a favor!" Morro exclaimed, "He's weak and suffering. By killing him, you'd end his suffering! Isn't that what you want to do? End his suffering?"

"No! I'd never!" I protested. Why would I ever kill my friend!?

Then, Morro leaned forward and whispered "Then you really aren't his best friend...Seiko."

Oh! Just hit me where I'm weak why don't you! I could feel my heart break a little bit. But Lloyd doesn't want to die, doesn't he? Even if he does, I'd never do it. It's shameful to kill your friends!

"No! That's not true! You're just saying these things to make me do what you want!" I shouted, "Well, I got news for you! You can go-" Um, let's try to keep this story PG-13 now...(but I'm sure you got what I said)

Morro glared at me, then I watched as his spirit disconnected with Lloyd's body. The ghost floated in the air as he held onto Lloyd's limp body.

"I guess I only have one choice then," Morro smirked. He dropped Lloyd on the ground and held the sword. No...he's not going to do what I think he's doing! The ghost looked straight at me, his smirk not faltering.

"I'll _make_ you do it," The words made my panic overflow. I started to back away. No, he's done this to Lloyd and Ronin, he's not going to do this to me! I felt as though I was about to scream when my back touched the wall. I became too petrified to move. Morro flew straight towards me, and I cowered, screaming possibly the loudest and longest I've ever screamed. My vision went black once the ghost's form connected with my body, and all I could remember was hearing Morro's menacing laugh.


	19. Chapter 19

There have always been horror stories of people losing control of their body to an external force, whether it be an actual person, demon, parasite, or even a ghost. I've seen movies about these and exorcisms, and to be quite honest, they horrified me. I couldn't imagine not being able to control my own body...but here we are. On this day, February 7th, I lost control of my body to a ghost. On this day...one of my worst nightmares became reality.

√\/\/\\_

After the blackout, I could only see inside my mind and I could only see Morro. I couldn't see what he was making me do, or even hear. I was only a spirit inside my head. A spirit restricted from controlling her own body.

"Oh, look who's back," Morro muttered, looking at me.

"Get out of my head!" I shouted. Morro laughed, as if I were some sort of comedian shouting jokes.

"You really think yelling that will get me out? God, you're dumber than I imagined," Morro continued to laugh as I just glared at him. I started to run towards him, but I ran into an invisible barrier.

"What the hell!?" I exclaimed, banging my fist on the barrier. Morro chuckled.

"I can't have you interfering with my plans. The true Green Ninja will not be stopped!" he declared. _True Green Ninja!?_ What the heck!? Lloyd's the Green Ninja!

"Um, I'm pretty sure Lloyd's the Green Ninja," I informed him, "And you call me the dumb one." Morro scoffed.

"He's only called the Green Ninja because Wu refused to give me the title! When he tested me, I noticed he had changed out the fire sword with a gold-painted katana! He purposely didn't give me it. So I'm the Green Ninja! I'm the special one! Not that blond poser!" he argued. I paused. Sensei Wu didn't mention anything like that, then again it was Nya who retold the story to me. Though, I really doubt Morro is meant to be the Green Ninja. Though, he should know one thing.

"The title of the Green Ninja may come with honor," I started, "but it's not all that it seems. Lloyd's been through hell since he became the Green Ninja, and it's damaging him."

Morro took one glance at me, his expression not changing. "Doesn't mean it will happen to me," he muttered. God, this ghost really is ignorant, isn't he!?

"Even so, if you kill Lloyd and deem yourself the Green Ninja, all you will get is bad luck!" I argued, "It's what happens to people who do bad things! They do a bad thing and bad luck kicks them in the butt! It's called karma!"

"But it's not me who's going to kill Lloyd," Morro smiled. It was a sinister smile, as if he were some sort of crazed serial killer. "It's you."

My eyes widened when I remembered the situation I'm in. Morro's controlling my body, not me. I'm but a spirit inside my head now.

"No! I'm not going to let you!" I shouted, continuing to beat on the barrier.

"There's nothing you can do," Morro laughed, "I'm the one in control now!"

I continued to slam my spirit fists on the barrier, believing I could break it. There had to be a way I could stop Morro! There had to be! There's no way I'm allowing him to go through with his plan!

Morro looked back at me, a little irritated. "Persistent one, aren't you? Well, I guess I'll at least let you hear what's going on."

All he did was wave his hand in a circular motion, and all I heard was silence, and the sound of metal dragging on ice. Is Morro making me walk? Then, I heard a voice that I haven't heard in a week. A voice that I used to claim sounded like a grown woman with a sore throat.

"Karma! W-what are you doing!?" Lloyd's voice was weak and panicked. I saw a fiendish grin grow on Morro's face. I could tell what he was planning, and it was cruel. I didn't want to see or hear it happen to Lloyd! I pounded my fists on the barrier.

"Don't do it!" I screamed, "If it's going to be anyone, kill me instead! I've done my part in this world, but Lloyd has so much ahead of him! Please!"

Morro turned to face me, not phased by my plea.

"Sounds great, but I don't feel like dealing with this twerp for the rest of my undead life. It's enough I have to deal with Ghoultar. Besides, how can I display that I'm truly the Green Ninja when this little shit is in the way?" he said.

"The real Green Ninja would never kill anyone for the title!" I argued. Morro laughed at my response.

"But hasn't Lloyd killed many beings? The Snakes? The Nindroids? Chen's goons?" he reminded. I shook my head.

"But he hasn't killed anyone that claimed or desired to be the Green Ninja! If he did, Kai would be dead!" I continued to argue. When am I going to get it through this guy's head that he's not the Green Ninja!? Morro remained silent for a minute, making me believe that he was rethinking his decision, but I was incorrect.

"He's just a poser though. I'm the real Green Ninja. He's not me," Morro spoke up. Suddenly, I heard the sound of something being sliced, and a piercing scream filled my ears. It could only belong to one person, the only other person who was talking earlier. I could feel my heart break, and I would have been crying if I could cry in a spirit form, but all I could manage was to make sounds similar to sobbing. I fell over, floating in the "air" in my mind. Morro just watched me, no sympathy whatsoever in his expression.

I couldn't manage to speak, but I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout at Morro. I wanted to banish him to the Cursed Realm. I wanted to douse him with water. I wanted revenge. I didn't care if he was a ghost. I'd become a ghost just so I could strangle him, whether it puts this dastardly spirit back in the ground or not.

As I started to get back up, Morro was cursing over something happening externally. I couldn't tell what was going on, but my thoughts around me pushed me towards him. _Now's your chance, while he's distracted. Take control, find some water, kill the ghost. Get your revenge. Do it for him._

Things quickly changed when the barrier between us broke, and Morro looked slightly distressed. He cursed again before I suddenly blacked out.

I opened my eyes, gasping. What happened!? Am I in control!? I moved my arms just to make sure, and though I was being restrained by someone, I could tell I was in charge of my own body again. I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling happy to be free again. I looked up to see that it was Lilly who was restraining me, and she was focused on watching something nearby. I paid no mind to it, as my thoughts were full of happiness due to being free of Morro's control. Then, my thoughts of revenge and sadness returned, reminding me of what just happened. I felt something rise in my throat, and I flailed, trying to free myself of Lilly's grasp.

When she let me go, I rushed over to one of the openings in the maze and vomited, losing whatever remnants of food in my stomach I had left. I gagged when I was finished, feeling sick and weak. Is this what happens after possession? I noticed that my hair had fallen out of it's usual bun too, and the ribbon that tied the bun in place was no where to be found.

"Are you alright?" I heard Lilly ask me as she neared. She made a slight gagging sound when she came near the opening.

"Yeah. Just had to spill my guts, that's all," I chuckled weakly.

"I can see that," she said, covering her mouth. I waited for her to question me. _What happened to Lloyd? Who killed him?_ she would ask. I would answer with Morro, and feel guilty about the details that I didn't fight the possession that well. But, the questions never came. So, when she didn't ask, I questioned her myself.

"Why aren't you asking me about what happened to Lloyd?" I asked. Lilly gave a look of confusion.

"What?"

"Lloyd's dead, isn't he? Why...why aren't you asking me about what happened?"

"Um, Karma...Lloyd's not dead," Lilly informed me, giving a look of concern. Now I was the one who was confused.

"B-But, I heard Morro kill him while in control of my body! I heard him scream!" I claimed, starting to think I was going crazy now. Was I hallucinating!?

"Morro did possess you for a period of time, but Lloyd was never harmed. We stopped you before Morro could use you to deal any damage. I believe Morro was tricking you," Lilly explained. The anxiety and grief I felt earlier disappeared then, but my hatred for Morro didn't leave. He may have a really pleasant voice, but that doesn't excuse his actions!

"We should get going," Lilly suggested, looking around, "The others have seemed to run off, as well as Morro and Lloyd."

I nodded in agreement, following her through the maze.

"Are you sure you know where they went!?" I questioned.

"Yes, trust me!" Lilly said, continuing to dart through the maze.

We reached an opening after a bit of running and slid into it, revealing a new room. I looked around and spotted the others by some skeletal remains. I noticed Zane was holding something shiny. Cole noticed us right when we slid down.

"Hey, there you guys are!" he smiled when he saw us, while at the same time, Kai was asking how whatever shiny thing works.

"How it works is that you'll hand over the crystal or say goodbye to your friend!" Morro shouted suddenly. I quickly turned around to see Morro standing in an opening, holding the blade of the sword to Lloyd's neck. Lloyd still looked weak from earlier, but now I noticed he was only slightly conscious. My worry for Lloyd grew at the sight of the blade being held at his throat.

"Lloyd!" I shouted, taking a step to run towards Morro. Lilly stopped me before I could do anything by grabbing me by the shoulder.

"Don't do anything impulsive right now," she whispered, "I don't think it will help us one bit."

My worry continued to grow as I stood there. What's Morro going to do!? What are we going to do!?

It was then that I saw eyes slightly open, revealing shining, red irises. "I-I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him," he said weakly. No, why is he saying sorry!? He's trying his best to deal with this buttnugget we call Morro! It's Morro who should be apologizing! He should be apologizing for his actions, dropping the stuff, and be heading back to the Cursed Realm! Not Lloyd!

"So, what will it be!?" Morro asked impatiently, demanding an answer. I couldn't think of anything to do. I felt as though any idea I had to get Lloyd away from Morro would end in Lloyd dying. I may have been able to run and talk, but I was too weak to use my powers. I could hear the Ninja discussing what to do behind me as I thought. It seemed they had a better plan in mind.

At the same time, Morro brought the sword closer to Lloyd's throat, making my worry intensify. I desperately tried to use my powers, despite being weak. I strained myself, trying to at least get the Dark Arts to work, but alas, nothing would work. Though, I continued to try. Then, I felt someone make one pat on my shoulder.

"Ease up," I heard Kai whisper, "I've got this."

He walked ahead of us all, holding the shiny thing from earlier. I started to believe it was the Realm Crystal.

"Looks like you've finally decided," Morro observed. Kai nodded in response.

"We're going to switch at the same time, alright? No deal if you refuse," Kai told Morro. The ghost nodded in agreement, though he looked a little peeved. He roughly pushed Lloyd towards Kai, then demanded the crystal. Kai smirked, grabbed Lloyd by the sleeve, then threw the crystal in the waterfall nearby. Now that was unexpected.

"The crystal! What have you done!?" Morro screamed. He pushed Lloyd into the water and approached Kai, ready to sink the blade of the sword into the Fire Ninja's chest. I rushed past Kai and blocked the sword with my staff.

"Go and save Lloyd! Hurry!" I commanded, trying to hold off Morro down with what strength I had. I watched Kai run after Lloyd as I blocked off another one of Morro's attacks.

"Trying to attack me when you're obviously weak? How foolish!" Morro exclaimed. I smirked.

"Yeah, I'm foolish, but god damn am I good at distracting you," I said. I dropped to the ground as Lilly jumped over me, the tornado from her spinjitzu disappearing beneath her feet. Zane and Jay surrounded him on the other sides, ready to ambush him. I heard Morro and Lilly's swords clash and I rolled out of the way, satisfied with that I just did. Seeing the others coming out of the corner of my eye turned out to be a big help! Now we could possibly defeat him right here!

I turned out to be wrong when I noticed everything that transpired after what I though. Lilly was pushed away, and Jay accidentally electrocuted Zane, leaving the poor nindroid in a dazed state. Morro ran past me, towards Kai and Cole, who were trying to get Lloyd out of the water. He's going to stop them.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted, running after him. Morro turned and unleashed a gust of wind on me, blowing me away, literally. I tumbled to the icy ground, covering my head with my arms so it wouldn't get hit. When I finally stop rolling, I uncovered my head, finding Morro, Kai, Cole, and Lloyd nowhere in sight.

"Where'd they go?" I asked, getting up. Jay, Zane, and Lilly did the same.

"They must have gone over the waterfall," Jay observed, running to the edge. The rest of us followed, looking over the edge.

"But if Cole fell down there too, wouldn't that mean..." Lilly's voice trailed off.

"There's only one way to find out," Jay said, before jumping in. Zane and Lilly followed. I was the last one to jump, the height giving me a bit of fright. I landed in the slightly chilly water below, and looked around for my friends. I could see Lilly and Zane swimming towards the surface, so I followed. The only issue was that my gi was heavy underwater, and my hair wasn't much help either, as it kept covering my eyes. I continued to swim towards the surface as fast as I could, though.

I gasped for air once I reached the surface and brushed my soaked hair out of my face. I quickly looked around for my friends and found them all standing on a rock. A wave of relief and happiness rushed through me when I saw that Lloyd was with them. I was helped out of the water, and I took the time to wring out my sleeves once I was out.

"Well, looks like we all made it out in one piece," Cole observed. I felt relieved again when I saw that he was still here, and not a pile of ghost goo.

"But what do we do about the crystal?" Jay questioned. Everyone was silent for a moment, but then Kai spoke up.

"At least Lloyd is safe now. We'll have to worry about the crystal later. For now," he said, looking out to the approaching Bounty, "we should take the time to strengthen ourselves, and give Lloyd time to heal."

I could agree with that, though, with Morro in possession of the three artifacts, Ninjago was doomed. Morro could strike and unleash The Preeminent at any time he wanted.

The bad part was,

We didn't know when he would choose to strike.

 **1-18-5 25-15-21 19-21-18-5 13-15-18-18-15 9-19 20-8-5 3-18-21-5-12-5-19-20 5-14-5-13-25?**

 **[Hint: There's 26 letters in the alphabet. What number goes with each letter? \\(-u•) ]**


	20. Chapter 20

_**WARNING: This chapter does contain a part where there is some gory stuff. It's pretty low and not extreme, but some people are still a little squeamish about that stuff, so I'll just place this warning here. When you see the √\/\ symbol, that's your signal to skip to the part showing the √\\_.**_

After telling everyone on the Bounty all that happened, I retreated to my room to rest, exhausted from all that happened. My mind sped through the memory of all that transpired, giving me a headache. I covered my eyes with my arms, sighing. I could have almost killed my best friend. All Morro had to do was swing the sword. I could have died at his hands, too. All he had to do was swing the sword too. It felt unbelievable that I survived something like this. This stuff was what I believe only movie heroes and heroines could survive. Does that mean I am one? I doubt I fit the criteria. I'm not fit to be a movie heroine. I'm too small, and I'm too weak. The heroines I see are all strong, tall, and muscular, meanwhile I'm tiny, skinny, and weaker than anything. Seems like my friends could fit that criteria more than I could.

My eyes started to close slowly as I stared into the black color of my sleeves. My exhaustion was finally pulling me to sleep. I closed my eyes, drifting off into what seemed to be a peaceful slumber.

√\/\/\/\

It was dark, and all I could hear was my own breathing. I was on edge for some reason that I did not know, and I was unarmed. I walked slowly in the darkness, looking for someone. It was then that I could hear someone calling my name in the distance.

"H-Hello!?" I called in response. I didn't receive an answer. I started to walk towards where I believed that I heard the voice, continuing to shout an occasional "Hello?"

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Karma..." whatever was behind me whispered weakly. It's voice was warped, and slightly creepy. I turned around, and when I did I shrieked at the sight.

There stood Lloyd. His face was pale, one of his eyes was missing, and there was a gaping hole in his chest. Blood leaked out of it slowly as he reached towards me. I backed up, and ended up running into another person behind me. I turned around and screamed.

I had run into Luo, who had a gaping hole in both her chest and stomach. She was bloody, and her face was frozen in a terrified state.

"Seiko...why didn't...you save me?" my sister questioned in a warped voice. I couldn't find the words to respond. I was frozen in terror.

"Am I no longer important to you...Seiko? Is this...new family...so much better than me?" my dead sister continued to question me. She started to approach me, arms outstretched.

"Oh, Seiko," she called in a sweet singsong voice. It was becoming creepy fast. She continued to call my name in the sweet voice, until finally, her hands grasped my neck roughly.

"Don't forget who's actually here for you!" she screamed.

√\\_

I sat up in an instant, my eyes wide open. I breathed heavily, as though I had just outrun what I saw in my dream. Tears welled up in my eyes at the memory of the gruesome figures I saw in my dream. Though, the last thing Luo said stuck out in my mind. _Don't forget who's actually here for you!_ What did it mean? I mean, Luo was always there for me, but my friends are there for me too. Do my dreams know more than I do? No, dreams only come from things I've seen and what's been on my mind. There's no way my mind can know more than I do. My mind is what I know.

I brushed the dream off as a nightmare and left it at that, not pondering farther on what Luo had said. I slipped off my gloves & scarf and walked out of my room. I figured that I should at least see how Lloyd's doing, despite not knowing how long I was asleep. He could still be resting. Either way, I was still going to see if he's doing alright.

I quietly knocked on Lloyd's door and waited. Once I heard him say "Come in," I opened the door and walked in without a word. Lloyd was sitting on his bed, reading a book. His ruby red eyes showed hints of confusion at my presence. It was silent for a moment, then he spoke up.

"Sorry," he giggled, "With your hair down, I didn't recognize you, Karma."

I smiled. "Yeah, I bet the others won't recognize me either. I probably look like that girl from _The Ring_ or something."

" _The Ring_? What's that?" Lloyd asked. Crap, I forgot he didn't know most horror movies.

"Eh, just forget it. It's going to be a long explanation," I said, sitting down in a wooden chair, "So, are you feeling any better?"

Lloyd shrugged. "A little."

"Well, that's better than not at all," I smiled. Lloyd didn't smile back.

"All I have to do is draw energy out of another living thing and I won't feel so weak. It's easy," he said, looking at a wilted flower in the windowsill. He must have taken the energy from it.

"Can you do that to human beings too?" I asked. Lloyd nodded.

"I choose not to though. I don't like hurting people, or taking away anything that's vital to them," he explained, setting his book on his nightstand.

"So, you couldn't do that to Morro?" I asked.

"No. He isn't alive. I cannot take his energy. I would if I could though," Lloyd replied, "I'd drain all of his energy, in return for all the things he did to me." He could say that again. I'd love to get revenge on Morro.

"He made me try to kill my friends, he consumed alcohol while in my body, making me throw up, he drained my body of all it's energy, he almost killed you all. All that energy draining almost killed me back at the tomb," Lloyd went on, "Well, you were there at the tomb when he unpossessed me for the second time. Though, I have a faint memory of it, I just remember you trying to fight hi- ..." His voice suddenly trailed off. He turned and looked at me. "He possessed you too...didn't he?"

I nodded in response, the memory filling my mind again. "I didn't want to bring it up. I just wanted to let you vent about what he did to you, because I thought it would make you feel better."

"What...what did he do to you?" Lloyd asked, concern in his expression.

"He tried to make me kill you," I said, "And for a while, he made me believe that I did. The noises that I heard sounded so realistic, I..." My voice trailed off, the memory of it all bringing tears to my eyes. Back then, I really did believe I had killed him, and the feelings from then were returning. I couldn't hold it in. I began to cry, just like I did not so long ago.

I wiped my eyes, trying to avoid an oncoming waterfall. I didn't want to sob my eyes out right now, it'd be embarrassing. My sobbing is pretty ugly, and I didn't want anyone to see that side of me right now, despite Morro already seeing it.

Then, I felt an arm over my shoulders.

"Just let it all out. Holding it all in will only hurt you, Karma," Lloyd said to me. I looked to my right to see it was his arm on my shoulders, and that he was now right next to me. I was reluctant to break out into a sob, but eventually, I did anyway. I couldn't stand to hold it in anymore. I sobbed into his shoulder, letting out everything I had held in from before. My sobs from when I thought he died, up to my sadness from when Luo died.

To be honest, when I finally stopped crying, I felt so much better. Even better, Lloyd didn't even care that my sobbing was ugly, or that there was snot leaking from my nose from all the crying. He just handed me a box of tissues.

"Sorry, that was pretty gross," I apologized, wiping my nose.

"It's alright, don't worry about it. It happens to everyone," Lloyd smiled. I smiled back, a little relieved I wasn't going to be judged for my sobs. My old friends would always judge me for them, but now, it's different. Lloyd's okay with it, and he doesn't make fun of it. I felt of sort of happiness over it, thankful for someone like this.

I went out onto the deck afterwords, joining Lilly in watching small villages below us go by.

"You sleep well?" Lilly asked. I nodded. It wasn't exactly true, but I didn't want her to worry in any sort of way.

"Did you pick up your weapon too? I don't remember you picking it up," Lilly asked. I patted my belt, showing the shiny, silver cylinder.

"Ah, okay. That reminds me, I need to get my sword in to a blacksmith. I have a feeling the blade's going to break at any moment," Lilly said, reminding herself. In less than a second, Kai sped over, saying "Did someone say blacksmith!?"

Lilly nodded in response. "Well, I'm just the guy! My father was a blacksmith, and so am I!" Kai said, smiling.

"Last I recall, Nya said you'd get impatient and rush things, making some deformed weapons," Lilly said. Kai was caught off guard by the statement.

"Oh, she's just being ridiculous. I assure you my blacksmith skills are just as good as my looks!" he claimed.

"So you're telling me you're _really_ bad at being a blacksmith?" Lilly asked.

"You're just jealous. You wish you could look this good," Kai shook off the statement. Lilly sighed and pulled her katana from her sleeve. The blade looked to be dulled now, and there were many dings in it. Kai took the katana from her hands and inspected it, a more serious look on his face.

"I can fix this, I just have to borrow a few tools from Jay," he informed us, "Though, if I can't do it, Nya surely can."

"Okay, thanks. Though, do I have to pay you at all?" Lilly asked. A mischievous smile grew on the fire ninja's face.

"Hmmm, well," Kai smiled, tapping his chin, "You could pay me by taking me on a date when this is all over."

Lilly's face grew tomato red immediately. "If it's the only way to pay you for fixing my sword. N-Not like I want to do that or anything."

Kai chuckled. "No, it's alright. I was just joking with you. You don't have to," he said. The red in Lilly's face remained.

"Thanks for fixing it anyway," Lilly said. Kai nodded.

"No problem!"

As he walked away, I giggled, whispering " _Tsundere_ " to her.

"What?" she asked, not understanding.

"You're a _tsundere_. You act like you don't have feelings for someone (and can be a little mean to the someone), but on the inside you truly do," I explained. Her face grew a darker shade of red.

"I..." she was about to protest, but didn't. She must have remembered that she confessed it to me.

"See? It's true, _Tomato_ ," I smiled. Lilly crossed her arms.

"I told you not to call me that," she said, to which I giggled.

"So, where are we going anyway?" I asked.

"Sensei said we were heading back to Steep Wisdom. He has a surprise for us there," Lilly informed me, "Our surprise is a person. I doubt you may know who it is."

Even if I didn't know who it was, I'd still be delighted to see them. I'm always up for meeting new people. Though, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of person they are, and their significance to the team.


	21. Chapter 21

The Bounty slowly landed by Steep Wisdom, giving me time to view the shop. I looked around for the surprise Lilly mentioned, but I didn't see it anywhere in sight. Must be a hidden surprise of sorts.

"Why aren't we heading to Stiix? Isn't that where Morro is heading?" Kai questioned as we all walked off the Bounty. It was a good question, though, I'm sure Sensei had a good answer for this one. We wouldn't just be stopping at the tea shop for no reason. This surprise guest must be top priority.

"We need to stock up on a few things before we go to Stiix," Sensei Wu informed him. He didn't specify on what exactly we needed to stock up on.

"On what!?" Jay asked, "Magic tea that gives us special powers? Or maybe it gives us four arms?"

A few of us chuckled at what Jay said, but Sensei just shook his head. "No magic tea today, although it sounds nice. I had to sell all the merchandise, along with everything else."

What did Sensei mean!? He sold off the thing he loved the most, tea!? Sensei must have cried when he sold it off. There's no way he could have sold off all his tea without shedding at least one tear.

Sensei walked us over to the tea shop, talking about all he did with it. Suddenly, in the middle of Sensei Wu's explanation, the doors to the tea shop swung open, revealing an oddly familiar man in a wheelchair. He looked to be in his fifties, and wore glasses that looked older than my mother. His jet black hair was combed to the side in a professional way, and his clothing was professional as well, complimented by a high-tech watch. He must be someone high class.

"Hello again, Ninja!" the man greeted us all. Immediately, I recognized the man, just by the sound of his voice. It's a voice I've heard on TV many times before. The man my sister looked up to, Cyrus Borg. Luo would be so jealous of me right now.

"While we were away, I had Borg build some expensive new toys for you all. I used the funds we gained from the Tea Farm to pay for it all," Sensei Wu informed us. I had to admit, I was excited to see what exactly these "expensive new toys" are. I bet they look cool as heck!

"It's been so long, I hardly recognize any of you!" Cyrus exclaimed, looking around at the team, "Lloyd looks older. Oh, I see a Water Ninja! Lilly's hair has gotten much longer. A titanium nindroid. Cole's a...a ghost. Jay looks shorter, and then there's Kai." Cyrus then turned and laid eyes on me. "Why, we have a new ninja too!" He leaned forward, holding out a hand. "What's your name, young lady?"

"My name's Karma Lee, Master of Darkness" I introduced myself, shaking his hand, "I have to admit, sir, my sister would be really jealous right now. I'm getting to meet you instead of her. You're her role model, er biggest inspiration."

"Well, why don't you stop by the Borg Tower with her sometime and I'll meet her," Cyrus said in an enthusiastic voice, smiling.

The smile I was wearing started to falter. "That'd be great sir, but..." My voice trailed off at the grim reminder. It may have been over a year since her death, but it still hurt. It was like a long-lasting sore. Cyrus gave a confused look, but then looked at my friends besides me.

"Um, Mr. Borg...her sister..." I heard Jay start, but heard nothing after that. He must have made a gesture hinting at her death, because Cyrus' tan brown eyes widened in surprise. He then turned back to me, giving a look of sympathy.

"I'm so sorry...I'm sure she was a really great person," he said. I smiled.

"She was. She wanted to be your apprentice, too, but I shouldn't go on about this. You have things to show the others that are vital to saving our dimension. I can talk about this later," I said. Cyrus nodded, and then looked over to the Ninja.

"Yeah. I don't want to come off as insensitive, but we don't have much time," Kai added. I didn't mind. I was a little uncomfortable with talking about Luo again anyway. It hurts even more when I talk about her.

"Kai, always the impatient one," Cyrus chuckled, as if we weren't just talking about a depressing subject, or it was to me at least. "Come, let me show you."

He wheeled over to the door of the shop, pressing a button. Immediately, platforms raised out of the ground, revealing three high-tech vehicles. I marveled at the new "toys". These looked like something out of a sci-fi movie! The sci-fi vehicles now belonged to Cole, Jay, and Zane, to which made me jealous. I hope I get something cool like that one day! Though, I was surprised Kai, Nya, or Lloyd didn't get anything. Cyrus wheeled over to the five of us, handing Kai a carefully sewn headband. The fire ninja looked pretty disappointed with his new present. I would be too, to be honest.

"I'm sorry I didn't make anything for you, Lloyd. To be honest, I didn't think you'd make it out," Cyrus said to the Green Ninja. Lloyd kept a steady poker face as Mr. Borg talked to him, but when Borg turned away, his eyes became downcast and his expression turned into a sadder one. Okay, first off, that's not the thing you say to someone who just went through hell! It could make the person believe you lost hope in them! Believe me, I've had something said like that to me before. When I was running track in middle school, I just narrowly won a gold medal. It was nearly a tie, but I won the gold in the end. When I met up with my friends about of it, one of then said, "You know Karma, I didn't think you would have won. She was so close up on you!" Then, I felt like my friend lost hope in me. She thought I was going to lose. But now, in this case, Lloyd may believe Cyrus thought he was going to die. It's not a good thought.

"And I'm sorry I didn't get you two anything either. I didn't even know Karma was here, and well, after I heard Lilly left the team I didn't think she would be coming back," Cyrus apologized. He completely ignored Nya, as if she weren't there. Okay Luo, your role model here sure has a flawed behavior I really hope you didn't follow. I huffed as the inventor wheeled away to talk to Sensei Wu and Misako.

"So, he's just gonna ignore Nya and not give her anything!?" I asked. Nya shrugged.

"Don't freak out about it, Karma. I get it a lot. The guys get cool new vehicles and stuff, while I just h- used to have my Samurai X mech," Nya told me, showing no signs of disappointment over this.

"But still!" I argued, "Mr. Borg should have given you something! He knew you were part of this team and he knew you fought alongside the guys! So why leave you out!?"

Nya sighed. "I don't know. I already had my Samurai mech, so I guess I was good to go."

I stomped my foot. "He could have given you an upgrade!"

Nya didn't reply after that. She remained silent, then walked over with the others to listen in on what they were talking about. "Least Cyrus could have done was give us water guns," Lilly mumbled as we followed Nya.

"But they'll be expecting us and Morro still has the Sword of Sanctuary. Even with these new fancy vehicles, how are we supposed get close?" we heard Nya say as we approached the conversation.

"Yeah, and how are we supposed to take on an army of ghosts?" Jay added.

"All we can do is try our hardest," Lilly said, "As for getting close, we need a plan."

"But even with our powers back, he's seen all our moves," Cole said. I had to disagree with Cole. There's so much more we can do other than just throw elemental powers. We can fuse them too. You know, like how if Zane throws ice and Kai throws fire we get water. We could drop a surprise waterfall on the ghosts!

"Then we'll show him something he hasn't!" Kai exclaimed, nudging his sister forward. Nya looked a little embarrassed to have all eyes on her. "A Water Ninja."

"B-But I just started my training! I haven't even found my true potential!" Nya argued. Really, why would she freak out over that!? I was fighting alongside these guys in before I even found my true potential!

"Nya, when our parents passed, you were there for me. Now I'm here for you," Kai said to his sister reassuringly.

"He's right," Cole nodded, "She's our greatest weapon."

"What about Lilly, too? Doesn't the crystal in her hand still work?" Cyrus questioned. So he does know about it. Lilly shook her head in response.

"Nope. As long as my hand is broken, I can only manage to throw a droplet of water at the bad guys," she answered, "Besides, I want Nya to learn how to use her powers." Lilly turned and smiled at Nya, who did the same.

"Our greatest power isn't what we can throw at him, it's what we have right here, a united team," Lloyd reminded us, smiling. I nodded in agreement.

"If they know we're coming, how about we show them that not every path is a straight line?" a smirk appeared on Nya's face as she talked, as though she were a villain with a huge evil plan. As she explained her plans on how to get into Stiix and kick Morro's butt, I felt much more confident that we were going to emerge victorious in the end. There's no way Morro's gonna see us coming! Though, I still preferred bringing along water guns sometime just to shoot the ghosts.

As we were on our way to Stiix, I decided to ask Lilly about what she saw in the ice back at the Tomb. I didn't want to come off as nosy, but I wanted to know why it looked like she was about to cry.

"Um, so," I started as I pulled my hair back into it's bun, tying it with a new ribbon, "if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you see in the ice? You looked like you were about to cry."

The blonde remained silent for a few moments, then said "I'll only tell you if you tell me what you saw."

I nodded in agreement. There really wasn't anything confidential in what I saw that will keep me from telling her. Though, the silhouette I saw still stood out.

"Well, I saw an older me, my father, and some strange silhouette. It looked too masculine to be my mother," I spilled the beans to her. She rubbed her chin.

"That's strange. Do you think it's a family member, or maybe your future husband?" Lilly asked. I shrugged. I didn't know. Though, if it is my future husband, he's gonna be shorter than older me.

"Maybe," I said.

Lilly sighed, most likely realizing it's her turn to tell now.

"Well, of course there was older me, and...if you weren't able to tell by my blush, I saw..." she paused as her cheeks turned a bright red, "...Kai, too. And, I saw both of my parents. The sight of my father sort of shocked me."

"So, they were going to be tears of joy?" I asked. She nodded.

"It's just surprising. I guess I'm going to see my parents again soon..." she said, looking out into the distance. I leaned on the railing of the Bounty, the battle ahead keeping me anxious.

"Hey," Lilly started, "There's a band with the same name as the city of Stiix. You think they play there?"

I shrugged. "They might."

"You think they wave sticks in the air too?" Lilly asked. I giggled.

"Okay, now you're just getting ridiculous."

If only moments like that could last forever...


	22. Chapter 22

When we were nearly to Stiix, I did as my part of the plan instructed and summoned my dragon. Both Lilly and I jumped onto it as soon as it appeared.

"You both know what to do, right?" Nya checked. I gave a thumbs up to show that we knew what to do. We were supposed to be near where Nya would start her run disguised as Lloyd. It was a pretty easy location to find...er...to me at least.

"Alright, I'll see you guys soon!" Nya smiled. Just then, Kai ran up, carrying Lilly's katana.

"Almost forgot to give this back to you," he said, handing it over Lilly. As she inspected it, he said "I sharpened it and could only fix it to where it can only survive this battle. It would have taken me a much longer time to make the sword like new. Sorry."

A small grin came to Lilly's face as she looked at the blade of her katana. "I love it. Thank you."

As Kai smiled back, I said "Well, we should probably get going. We'll meet you guys there."

Nya nodded and waved as we departed for Stiix. As we flew off, I said to Lilly "You two are adorable."

I heard Lilly make a tiny "hmmph" in response and possibly cross her arms. I giggled to myself, then returned my focus to flying the dragon to our destination. Though, one thing did stick out in my mind.

"Sensei said the Deepstone armor prevents ghosts from possessing us, right?" I asked.

"Yea," Lilly responded.

"Then how come Lloyd and I got possessed? We both were wearing the armor at the time Morro possessed us. Don't you think it's a little odd?" I questioned. The blonde remained silent.

"We need to tell the others the armor is defective!" I exclaimed, my worry for my friends' safety off the charts. Lilly put a hand on my shoulder.

"They'll be fine," she attempted to reassure me, but my worry and anxiety remained.

"No they won't! Morro could possess Nya once she gets close enough! I don't want her to get hurt like we did!" I argued.

"Karma! I said they'll be fine!" Lilly raised her voice, then lowered it, "Listen, Morro loses as much energy as those who are possessed do. Last I recall from the time at the Tomb, when he exited your body, he was weak for a few seconds. He most likely wants to be energized when he releases the Preeminent, so he's not going to possess anyone."

What she said was reassuring, but it didn't stop the anxious thoughts zipping around in my mind. If he possesses Nya, it's all over. Lilly can't do what Nya can right now, so we'd lose, and even possibly die. I feared what awaited us, and what the future held. Even though we all saw our reflections in the ice, I couldn't shake the thought that it could have been lying. It didn't show my mother, and I doubt she's dying anytime soon. She's in perfect health right now, there's no way she'd pass! I questioned how I could grow to 6ft in the time periods between now and then too.

"Just calm down. Everything will be fine," Lilly reassured me, "Trust me."

I tried to listen to what she said, but the anxious thoughts disagreed. The only thing I could do was continue onward and take on whatever lied ahead. It was the best and only choice.

Once my dragon landed near the entrance to the city, both Lilly and I finally got a good look at what happened to it. The lanterns that illuminated Stiix now emitted a ghastly green glow. I could see spirits flying around the city, terrifying the citizens. The sky was dark, giving the city a creepy look and making the water appear black. I saw a discarded dragon costume lying nearby. I sighed at the sight of it. It must be February 9th, Ninjago's New Year's Day. Yesterday was the Chinese New Year. I was supposed to spend that time with my family, and the other members of my mother's family, but of course Morro had to ruin it all. It's the first year I've missed the New Year's celebration. I wonder if my family thought of me during it.

Just then, the others arrived. Nya jogged up in Lloyd's gi, waving.

"Glad to see you guys made it here in one piece," she said, the mask over her face making me wonder if she was smiling or not. I nodded.

"Yeah, we had no difficulty," I said in response.

"Well, that's good! Hopefully that good luck stays with us for the fight," Nya hoped. She then glanced at the entrance to Stiix. "Looks like it's time to go in, huh?"

"Yeah, let's go," Lilly said. We let Nya run ahead, then we followed her. It was as we were running, a stranger and I's eyes met. Her hair was the color of the midnight sky, and her eyes were jade green. Her skin was tan, like Nya's, there was a mole on her neck, and she wore clothes similar to Stiix's fishermens' clothes. She fit the description she wrote on her letter. Myung. My pen pal. I wanted to stop and try to talk to her, but I couldn't. I only knew how to write in Korean, and I had to keep running with Nya and Lilly. I couldn't abandon my objective now. I watched her figure fade away in the distance as she ran in the other direction. I hoped she would make it out of here alive and okay. I can't stand to lose anyone else, even people like her.

Both Lilly and I stopped in the center of Stiix as Nya continued to run after Morro. Kai and Lloyd would stick with her from there. We just needed to fend off any incoming ghosts. I pulled my mask over my face and got my Aeroblade, ready to fight. Lilly did the same, except she stuffed the wild hair that ran down her back into her gi. I gave a confused a look.

"Why don't you just cut your hair already instead of stuffing it into your suit?" I suggested.

"I don't want to cut this! I like it this way. Besides, if I need to, I can use my hair as a scarf in the winter," Lilly disagreed. I raised an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"Well, alright then. Just don't come crying to me when some ghost hacks off your hair or it gets caught on something," I crossed my arms.

"That won't happen! Besides, your words won't push me to do anything," Lilly huffed. I sighed. Alright, alright. Your choice.

"Let's just get to ghost busting," I said, tossing my Aeroblade at a stray ghost. The ghost disappeared once my Aeroblade touched it, proving the Deepstone within the blade worked. Though, why doesn't work for our suits?

"You know, there's not that many ghosts here. This is going to be an easy job," Lilly observed. I nodded in response. Looks like the good luck lasted! Though, just as I nodded, a whole pack of ghosts entered the area, our good luck diminishing.

"God damn it Lilly you jinxed it!" I shouted, throwing my Aeroblade at a nearby ghost.

"Don't blame me! Blame the ghosts! They're the ones who chose to show up!" Lilly argued, throwing her Aeroblade furiously. The number of ghosts grew as we tried to exterminate them all. My arms were growing tired, and I didn't know how much longer I could keep up with this.

"Try to use your powers!" I instructed Lilly as we began to get surrounded.

"I can't make any promises that it will work!" Lilly said, putting her bandaged hand up. A few moments passed before suddenly I heard the ghost explode, and the goo landed on Lilly's arms.

"Did I-?" before she could finish, several more ghosts exploded, covering us and the surrounding area in the neon green goo. I looked up to see streams of water landing on the ghosts, causing them to explode. There's no way Lilly could be making it all come from that direction! I followed the direction of the streams to spot someone in a black cowl on the roof, holding a water gun. See!? We should have gotten some of those! It would have been so much easier to kill all these ghosts!

Once all the spirits were reduced to piles of goo, the hooded sniper jumped down from the roof, giving me a closer look at them. Their clothes were similar to those you would see an assassin wear, and all in black. I could see the barrel of what looked to be a sniper rifle poking out from their back. A black and red _oni_ mask hid their true identity, leaving who it was to be a mystery. I watched this mysterious stranger put their water gun away, back where the rifle was, then they stepped towards us.

"So I know that you two aren't ghosts, take off your masks," their voice sounded like a middle aged woman. I made the conclusion that they were female after hearing their voice. I looked over to Lilly to see if we should resist, but she was hesitantly reaching for her mask, as if she were unsure about something. I took off mine without hesitation, a little scared of what the stranger would do if I hadn't, considering there's a gun with them. Lilly finally took off her mask, shaking her head to make any stray hairs go anywhere other than her face. The stranger remained silent and still, not reaching for anything and not even moving. It was creeping me out.

Finally, the stranger took off her mask, revealing that she was indeed a female. Her eyes were the color of sapphire and her hair blonde, only a shade darker than Lilly's. Her hair was cut into a bob and she looked to be about 35. She looked to be in shock for some reason.

"Lillian?" the woman asked, looking straight at my blonde friend. Lilly's full name. Lilly's eyes widened at the sight of the woman, and she started to very slowly back away. She looked a little scared, and I couldn't help but feel confused on all of this.

"Do you two know each other?" I asked Lilly. She failed to answer, only to open her mouth and close it.

"Why of course she does!" the woman chuckled, _"She's my daughter."_


	23. Chapter 23

I was shocked. How can someone who looks _that_ young be the mother of a 21-year-old!? I suppose some people are lucky to look young, but this is just odd!

"B-But you look so young..." I said. Lilly's mother nodded.

"Yupp. Runs in the family," she grinned.

"Um, may I ask how old you are?" I said. Lilly's mother nodded again.

"Thirty-eight," she informed me with pride. I nearly fainted.

"If Lilly's 21...and you're 38...doesn't that mean-" before I could finish, Lilly's mother answered me.

"Yupp, I had her at seventeen-" before she could finish, I fell backward onto the ground. I don't think my parents would approve of this lady, at all.

"It wasn't exactly one of my greatest times. I still wonder today what the hell I was thinking back then, but hey, at least I got this little cupcake out of the deal," Lilly's mother put her arm around her daughter, causing Lilly to flinch for a slight second, "That's also the reason why she's not allowed to be around any boys or men, unless it's her father."

"Oh, she wouldn't quite like our team then, would she?" I asked Lilly in a whisper. Before she could answer, her mother interrupted.

"Not quite like your team? Why? Are there boys on it!? Lillian knows quite well she's not supposed to be around any males unless I approve of them! She's not even supposed to be dating either," she said, casting a glance of suspicion at her daughter. Oh boy, Lilly's going to have fun when her mom meets the team. I'm afraid if she meets the team, Kai may end up dead or worse.

"No no! Our team is all girls! Don't worry!" Lilly said quickly, waving her hands. Mrs. Genisis gave one more suspicious look before her expression turned back into a smile.

"So, anyway, what are you two doing out here?" she asked in a much more cheerful tone. I continued to go into detail about our current situation, from Lloyd being possessed to Morro getting ready to release the Preeminent. I didn't care about what Mrs. Genisis said earlier or if she had any incoming misandry-filled remarks, we needed help. Ninjago needed help. I even proceeded to tell her my name, and all that went on with the team. Mrs. Genisis stayed silent after I had spoken. Her expression only showed surprise.

"So, you just lied to me a minute ago, Lillian?" she asked her daughter, the cheery tone gone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lilly apologized immediately, "I...I just didn't want you to get mad!"

The way Lilly was acting caught me off guard. Never before have I seen her this nervous. In fact, I've never seen her act this way towards anyone. Something told me there was much more to Mrs. Genisis than a younger look and a sniper rifle.

Lilly's mother sighed. "Anyway, I've heard of this team you two are a part of. I've also heard that the red ninja is quite the player, the green one is quite weak despite being our savior, and the blue one is known for jaywalking."

"Lloyd is not weak," I argued, "The only people who are weak are those who call him weak and don't know what he's actually going through."

Mrs. Genisis glared at me, but I didn't flinch. If you're going to talk shit about my friend, expect me to talk back! Just because you're older than me doesn't mean I'm going to hold back! Lilly gave me a look as if I had just screwed up big time. She looked pretty frightened. Then, suddenly, Mrs. Genisis chuckled.

"You must be an aggressive one, or one who is easily offended. You can't defend your friends forever. You do have to realize and acknowledge their flaws at some point in your life," she said, as if she were the one who was correct. I disagreed with her, but I didn't show it. Lloyd may have flaws, but weakness isn't one of them!

"S-Shouldn't we be moving along? I'm sure Lloyd has faced off against Morro by now. Hopefully he won," Lilly stuttered, walking in the direction I watch Nya run through earlier. Both Mrs. Genisis followed her. I have to admit, I didn't trust her mother. There was something odd about the woman that I just couldn't put my finger on. The way Lilly acted around her added to it, making me question whether Mrs. Genisis was actually going to be a big help or not.

Suddenly, I heard yelling ahead, and a sudden overload of ghosts started to fill the sky. A grim feeling filled my body at the sight of the ghosts and the yelling. Something was wrong. I ran past Lilly and towards the yelling. As I grew closer to it, the voices grew much more familiar. I swore I could hear Cole's voice yelling something, but what!? I sprinted towards the voices, anxiety mixing with the grim feeling from earlier. Is someone dying or dead!? Has something gone horribly wrong!? What is going on!? Why can I hear my friends yelling!?

When I neared what used to be Ronin's pawn shop, I was filled with more anxiety than before. I saw my friends standing at its windows. When I got closer, I could make out a worried look in Kai's eyes.

"What's going on!?" I asked once I was closer, then once I saw someone in our team was missing, I asked "Where's Lloyd?"

Nya stepped forward and told me everything as Lilly and her mother approached us. How Lloyd and Morro were fighting. How Lloyd nearly got the crystal. How tentacles pulled them both into a portal, never to be seen possibly ever again. My heart sank. My best friend is gone...again. Just when I thought we got him back again, he was gone again, just like that. The thoughts of whether he was going to return again or not swirled in my mind, keeping me frozen. Either could happen. Morro could kill him or he could return alive. I desperately hoped for the last one, though, I knew our good luck was no longer with us.


	24. Chapter 24

"So, you're telling me the green kid and a ghost got pulled into a portal by an octopus?" Mrs. Genisis asked, raising an eyebrow. Zane nodded.

"Affirmative. Though, I do not believe the tentacles belonged to an octopus," he confirmed.

It was then that the tentacles that were described earlier started to emerge from nearby Ronin's shop. The hairy eyeball-like creature I remember seeing during our time in the Cloud Kingdom began to enter our world through a portal. It began to use the various buildings in Stiix as it's armor, covering everywhere except for the part of it's body that looked like an eyeball. It's tentacles were outstretched, trying to pull off a menacing look, and did so effectively.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Kai said, shocked by the monster's appearance. I was wondering the same thing.

"It's The Preeminent!" Zane informed us. Jay made a disgusted sound.

"Are you sure it's not a giant-" he started to say before Nya said, "Don't even say it, Jay!"

"Well, she ain't pretty, that's for sure!" Cole observed. I could agree. A hairy, tentacle-armed eyeball isn't beautiful at all. Trust me.

I saw Nya run towards the Preeminent, unleashing a jet of water in attempt to see if it hurt the huge monster. Nya's attack didn't affect the Preeminent at all, instead it just made the huge eyeball exasperated. The monster swung it's tentacles in an attempt to catch the crimson ninja, but Nya cartwheeled out of the way, backing up to where we all stood. It swung it's tentacle again, attempting to hit us all this time, but we all jumped out of it's way. I attempted to blind the beast by using darkness, but it failed. The cloud wasn't big enough, and I didn't know where it's actual eye is.

"Try cutting off the tentacles instead!" Jay suggested to us all as he pulled out his Aeroblade. Lilly stepped up, her katana sliding out of her sleeve and into her available hand.

"Alright Kai, let's see how sharp you actually made this thing!" she smirked before running ahead of Jay, towards the tentacles. She and Jay slashed through the tentacles with ease, only to find that the tentacles grow back, twice as many in fact.

"That wasn't supposed to happen!" Lilly exclaimed, backing away from The Preeminent with Jay. It seemed that this monster is just like the Hydra, except it's using houses and buildings as armor.

Suddenly, The Preeminent's tentacles grabbed a hold of Jay's new vehicle, smashing it to bits on a dock. Jay screamed at the sight of the car being smashed, as if the Preeminent was murdering someone instead of his car.

"M-My baby!" the blue ninja mourned, looking as if he were about to sob. I heard Nya mutter something under her breath at the sight of all this. Something about Jay and "baby" was all I could hear.

"Nya, it'd be great if you'd unlock your True Potential now!" Kai said slightly impatiently. Nya turned and glared at her brother.

"Oh yeah! Let me just flip a switch! Oh wait! That's right! I'm not a god damn nindroid!" she shouted sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"But I-" Zane started to protest, but Jay shushed the android, not wanting to aggravate Nya further. At the same time all of this was happening, Cole was attempting to take down the Preeminent by driving his Deepstone bike into her mouth, which failed badly. The ghost ninja rolled onto the ground, sighing.

"Well, there goes a perfectly good bike." What did you think was going to happen when you drove it into her mouth, doofus!? Of course she'll eat it and most likely eat you!

All of us continued to try and fight the Preeminent and her ghost minions. Mrs. Genisis even pitched in, attempting to take down the monster by shooting it with her rifle and the water gun. Though our tactics were proving unaffective, we continued to try and fight it, despite fatigue from fighting the tentacled beast starting to take over some of us.

"I don't think we're going to kill this thing anytime soon!" Mrs. Genisis exclaimed, bringing up a point I refused to admit. The Preeminent was unbeatable, for now. We needed to retreat until we found a different approach.

Suddenly, I heard fast-approaching footsteps behind us. I turned to see Sensei Wu and Misako running up. I felt a little relieved at their arrival.

"It's too late! We need to get to the ship and protect the people!" Sensei told us.

"But Lloyd's still in The Preeminent!" Jay reminded. I felt more desperate to kill this thing now than flee. There's no way I'm letting it keep my best friend!

"This is what Lloyd would have wanted," Misako said in a sort of sad tone. I get it, he'd want us to flee, but I can't just leave him behind! He could still be alive in that thing! He could be suffering!

"Karma! Come on!" I heard Lilly shout. I turned my head to look at everyone.

"I can't! Lloyd's still in there! I know there's a way to get him out! There has to be!" I protested.

"Didn't you hear what Misako said!? Lloyd would have wanted it this way!" Jay reminded me. My hands curled into fists.

"But it shouldn't have to end this way! This isn't the way to go! No one should have to die inside this huge eyeball!" I argued.

"Not every story has a happy ending, Karma," Misako said. I shook my head.

"But I can make the happy ending happen! All it takes is the will to fight for what you want! In this case, what I want is for my best friend to be alive and safe!" my voice shook from frustration. I just want everything to be okay again! I don't want anyone else in my life to die! Losing Luo was enough! I can't lose anyone else. I'm afraid I won't recover this time if I lose someone.

I suddenly felt someone grip my wrist lightly. I looked up to see that it was Kai.

"Come on. We may find a way to stop the Preeminent on the way. Lloyd will survive this. Believe me, okay?" he said in a reassuring voice. I finally budged and followed them, my heart sinking yet again and anxious thoughts filling my mind. What if we don't find a way? What if Lloyd dies? What if his spirit is mad at us for leaving him behind!? The anxious thoughts sped around in my mind like an exchange of bullets, making me feel like my head was going to explode from the anxiety.

Kai finally let go of my wrist once we were away from the Preeminent. I didn't dare run back.

"I wanted to save Lloyd too, Karma, but sometimes you have to let go. You have to realize when the situation is too much," Kai spoke up as we approached the boat. I remained silent, listening to his words. But that situation wasn't too much...was it? The Preeminent may have been towering, but there had to be a way to stop her. There's always a way to stop everything.

We boarded a boat filled with the citizens of Stiix. They all looked terrified and uncertain of what was to come. I could only imagine how Myung was feeling right now. I suddenly spotted Ronin cutting the line that anchored the ship to shore. I was surprised to find him here, especially after all that he did. You'd think he would have avoided us, but he didn't. Then, once the line was cut, Morro landed in front of the renegade samurai. Ronin immediately raised the Sword of Sanctuary, fighting Morro and blocking every attack the ghost threw at him.

"Morro's back!" I heard Cole exclaim. Now would be the perfect time for Nya to use her powers and kill Morro, but she didn't do it. Instead, Morro managed to get the Sword out of Ronin's hands. The wrathful spirit went to pick up the blade, when suddenly it was taken by someone else. Someone that made my heart leap for joy, rising instead of sinking.

Lloyd stood tall, unscathed and pointing the sword at Morro. He ran and knocked Morro into a building, then turned to wave at us. The anxiety I had felt previously disappeared, my mind replacing them with feelings of joy.

"Ninja, take out the stilts! We need to drop the Preeminent into the sea!" Lloyd commanded. What Kai had said came true, except we weren't trying to save Lloyd anymore. We were going to kick the Preeminent's tentacle-y ass instead!

We nodded and jumped back onto the docks in a flash. Mrs. Genisis decided to stay on the boat, watching us as we started to destroy the stilts holding up the dock. The dock started to cave in immediately, making creaking sounds as it fell. We climbed up onto the dock, only to see that The Preeminent's armor had grown. Now she truly looked like a poorly made Halloween costume.

"Whoa," I heard Cole say in amazement. We immediately jumped roof to roof, going after the monster. I proceeded to sprint after it, making sure not to miss a step and fall as I jumped roof to roof. Once I was close enough to the unsightly eyeball, I leaped onto one of the buildings on it, falling through the window on it. The others joined me inside shortly after.

"Doctor, it appears our patient needs to have her knee be put on ice," Jay told Zane, imitating a nurse's voice. The nindroid nodded and froze the room around us, in hopes of freezing The Preeminent in her tracks. Unfortunately, it was unaffective and didn't phase the monster at all. We began to climb out of the building and started to make our way upward, when we were sidetracked by the various ghosts that infested the area around the eyeball monster. Immediately, everyone except Nya pulled out their Aeroblades, proceeding to fight the many spirits that surrounded us. As we fought, Kai slipped and fell off the building into the water. Instantly, I started to feel worry, as I recalled that he can't swim.

"Kai!" I heard Lilly call as she looked over the side. Zane rushed to the side, unleashing a beam of ice below. After a few moments, I heard Jay say "Fire and ice make water, nice! Now one more ghost is toast!"

I watched Zane help Kai back up. He looked to be okay, though, I wondered how he stayed afloat if he couldn't swim.

"I thought you said you didn't know how to swim," Lilly said.

"I can't. The Deepstone is what kept me above water. They should put this stuff on life jackets!" Kai said as he looked down at the Deepstone on his gi. Well, looks like it does have a use after all!

"Well, we aren't really doing any good here. We need to return to the ship," Nya broke in. I had to agree with her. Our attacks didn't seem to be affecting The Preeminent at all. We all agreed and jumped down, landing on the buildings that were the last of Stiix. We ran across them and jumped back on the boat just in time. Sensei Wu and Misako met up with us once we landed.

"If we're going to destroy The Preeminent, we're going to have to do more," Sensei observed, looking at the eyeball-like beast as it expelled another mass of ghosts.

"There's not much fuel left in this ship either!" Ronin added. Well, that's just freakin' peachy! We're possibly going to die!

"Hollows Trench...Do you think it's deep enough to drown that thing!?" Kai questioned.

"It could...what do you say, Zane?" Jay asked the android.

"I say we give it a go. It just might work, if my calculations are correct," Zane said, giving the go. The boat instantly started to speed up, getting farther from land. Unfortunately, The Preeminent approached the ship, ripping the propeller right off. Screams erupted from inside the ship as terrified civilians caught sight of The Preeminent. I started to feel panicked. Lloyd wasn't here again, The Preeminent is too close for comfort, the propeller for the ship is gone, leaving us immobile, and there's nothing we can do now! It was just best to accept that this was the end. This was the last the world would see of me.

Suddenly, I could hear the sound of water rushing all around. I looked around for the source, but all I could find was water flying through the air towards the north. I started to walk to the other side of the ship when I froze in amazement. A water tornado was surrounding Nya, to which the Ninja marveled at. I could slightly see a wave forming behind The Preeminent. We were going to win!

"She's unlocked her True Potential," I heard Kai said in a proud and quiet voice. The wave behind The Preeminent continued to grow, now towering over the monster. Then, it's crashed onto the eyeball like a tsunami. I could hear Morro screaming "No!" as his master collapsed into the ocean, along with his colleagues. I felt a grin come to my face. How does it feel to be out of luck, Morro? What goes around, comes around!

I saw Sensei Wu jump overboard and onto his dragon, flying over to the scene. I paid no mind to it as we all took off our masks and rejoiced. There was cheering all around, and Kai looked like the proudest brother I've ever seen. He hugged his sister out of joy, smiling. I high-fived the others, laughing victoriously. Jay attempted to hug Cole, but ended up falling through him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were a ghost now," Jay said, his face to the floor. Cole laughed, despite Jay reminding him that he's a ghost now.

I turned to see that Sensei had returned, a depressed frown on his face. Something must have happened.

"Morro is now gone," he notified us all, holding up the Realm Crystal for all to see. I felt pretty relieved that he was gone now, but I felt sorry for Sensei Wu. To see one of your students die again has to be rough, though, if only he knew of the vile things that Morro did.

Then, Sensei opened a portal with the crystal, allowing Lloyd to come through. The blond was now in clothes similar to his father's, instead of his green hoodie. Misako immediately ran to hug her son. Lloyd proceeded to kiss his mother on the cheek.

"Sorry, forgot about that earlier, Mom," he smiled. Misako smiled too, her eyes glistening as she let go of him. I then ran up and tackle hugged him, though, I didn't knock him over.

"Dude, you had me worried," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Glad you're okay."

I let go and stepped back, the both of us smiling. "Glad you're okay too," Lloyd said.

He proceeded to tell us about what happened, and how being the Green Ninja doesn't mean he always he has to save the day, as he has friends like us to rely on. I felt tears of joy stream from my eyes after he talked, and a sense of happiness came over the whole group.

"It appears your father's robe has imparted your wisdom, but you still have a lot to master before you earn the Sensei title," Sensei Wu said to his nephew. Lloyd nodded in understanding.

"If that's the path I'm on, I'll take it one step at a time. The Cursed Realm is gone and so is my father, but I know they're in a better place," he gave a sort of melancholic smile as he spoke, possibly reflecting on his father.

"Plus, some of us may look a little different, but like our team, things never change," Cole chimed in.

"And if they do, that's okay, we'll go with the flow," Nya grinned. I mumbled a small "ba-dum-tiss" as her pun, which a few of the Ninja heard and laughed. Though, what Nya had said was true. If any of us change, the rest of us can go along with it and embrace the change. Lloyd may have changed from his experience with Morro, Cole has changed from a human to a ghost, Nya has changed from what some people would deem an "ordinary girl" to water ninja, and well, I'm sure all of us have changed from this experience! I know I have.

I felt like the future was going to change for the better now, seeing that the Cursed Realm was gone. The evil souls that exited the realm were exterminated, eliminating any chance of any baddies showing up soon. We'll finally get to rest and do some fun stuff instead of saving lives!

Though, I did know that not all the bad guys come from the Cursed Realm, I didn't mind. When they appear, I know we'll be ready to kick their butts. We always have, and we always will be ready. No matter the enemy.


	25. Chapter 25

The ship was set to arrive in a nearby village in a few hours, giving me time to chat with the others. I joined Lilly on the deck, who was watching the sea roll by.

"So, is your mom finally leaving you be for a bit?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, she said she needed to talk to someone. I really hope she's not fighting with Ronin instead," Lilly said.

"Your mom knows Ronin?" I asked.

"Yes. Criminals tend to know other criminals. In this case, she knew Ronin had her pin, so of course she's probably going to kick him in the face for it," Lilly informed me. I giggled at the thought of the pirate getting kicked in the face. He'd deserve it for the hell he put us through the other day, that's for sure.

"I really wish we could get to land faster though," Lilly sighed.

"Why? Got a hot date or something?" I asked, giggling a little bit over what I said.

"Yes, actually," Lilly admitted, her cheeks becoming pink. I was caught off guard a little bit by her confession. So she's actually going take what Kai jokingly said seriously?

"I'd feel bad if I didn't do anything in return for him fixing my weapon, so I decided to take him on a date or whatever," she continued to confess, her cheeks now a light red.

"Well, I hope you have fun, but remember, you also have to get your hand looked at by a doctor sometime," I reminded her. I also had to keep in mind that I still had a concussion, and if I didn't see a doctor about that it would get much worse. I preferred not dying of brain damage. Lilly nodded, signifying she knew.

"Hey, did you notice your staff is missing?" she asked. I was instantly alarmed. My staff is gone!? I felt around my belt, only to find nothing there. No! I must have lost it during the battle with The Preeminent!

"Damn it!" I cursed, continuing to feel around my belt. Seeing that it was nowhere in sight, I stopped feeling around for it, a little upset now.

"Well, I should go see if my mom's beating up Ronin. Talk to you later," Lilly said, leaving me by the railing of the ship. I leaned on it, sighing. I can't believe I was careless enough to lose my staff! I'm usually better than that! Great, now I'm going to have to save up to buy a new one.

"Tired from the battle?" I heard someone ask. I looked to my right to see Lloyd had joined me. I shook my head.

"I lost my staff during the fight...but I shouldn't be complaining to you about this. You've had much worse happen to you," I said.

"No, don't hold it back just because of what happened to me. Go on ahead and rant if you have to," Lloyd replied. I sighed, my frown becoming a smile.

"Nah, it's alright. I don't feel like screeching in front of the public," I declined. Lloyd chuckled a little bit at my response. There was a period of silence between us before I spoke up and asked, "So, you're going to become a Sensei now?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. I don't know if I'm really ready for it though."

"Hey, I believe in you. I know you can become a great Sensei," I smiled. The melancholic smile that Lloyd wore earlier returned.

"Yeah, but the problem is I have to grow up even more, and I'm starting to miss how things were when I was a kid," he admitted.

"Who said you had to grow up!? You can still have fun and play around, even as a Sensei! I mean, have you seen the things your uncle does!? You know, if you want, we can go to Mega Monster Amusement Park, or maybe go to the arcade, or if you're all about comic books Doomsday Comix is still open in the city," I said in an attempt to cheer my friend up, "but seriously Lloyd, just because you're physically older now doesn't mean you have to act all serious and grow up quickly. You have to cut loose and have a little fun sometimes. I mean, look at me! You most likely view me as an adult, but I still watch cartoons aimed at 10 year olds and I still visit the amusement park when I get a chance!"

The melancholy in Lloyd's smile started to disappear. "I guess you have a point. I do need to have fun sometimes."

"Yeah! Now what do you say we go to Mega Monster Amusement Park when I get rid of this stupid concussion?" I asked him.

"I'd love to go," Lloyd accepted. A smile came to my face. I truly felt that things could get better for him. The experience with Morro may have left a deep scar on his soul, but I believed I could help him heal from it. I could help make his future brighter, and less littered with the bad. I could do the thing all best friends should do, be their for him.

And I was going to do just that.

Ninjago City, Unknown Building, 5:05 pm.

The TV in the room blared with a news report on an attack by a huge monster in Stiix. Supposedly, the Ninja of Ninjago defeated it, along with a sudden undetected tsunami. Now the city of Stiix was underwater and it was reported there was forty people still missing, amongst them was a family named The Parks. The mother, the father, their daughter Myung, and their son Ren. Marléne sighed at this news, wondering when these Ninja would stop leaving destruction whereever they went.

"I believe now would be the ideal time to strike, Alex. They're probably still weak from the attack on Stiix. We could kill them easily," she suggested. Not too long ago, her old colleague had broken her out of prison, explaining that he wanted to carry through with their dead boss' mission. Continue what he started. She only joined forces with this weakling for that cause.

"Be patient, Marléne. I want to see how strong my experiments really are. I don't want a one-punch-one-kill scenario. When I rule this country, I want to be known as the leader who put up a fight, and killed evil with all his strength. I want to be feared," Alex replied. She had forgotten about the experiments. The experiments they had replicated to be like a past enemy of the Ninja's experiments. One of them was sitting in the dark corner of the room, his bright red eyes glowing.

"Well, what does your experiment think?" Marléne questioned.

"I agree with Alex." the experiment replied immediately. She heard him rise from his seat slowly. "I'd rather wait until they have their strength back."

The experiment walked into the light, revealing the features that made him look exactly like his counterpart: spiked dark brown hair, a scar on his right eye, a muscular build, and a height of six feet. The only thing that set him apart was that his skin was a very pale tan and that his eyes were red instead of brown. A menacing grin was on his face.

"I want to see if my counterpart is as strong as he says he is."

 **A/N: Thank you all for sticking around for the sequel to The Midnight Two! You guys seriously have no idea how much fun I have when writing these chapters. I am also really excited to release the first chapter of the third book! I've been planning it for months (longer than I have been planning this one) and can't wait to release it! Thank you again for sticking around to read this little story, and I'll see you all again in the next book!**


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